RICHMOND, Ky. – Bennie Coney threw for 337 yards and a season-high four touchdowns to lead Eastern Kentucky (2-3, 1-1) to a 31-16 win over Southeast Missouri (2-4, 2-1) Saturday night at Roy Kidd Stadium.
 
Coney completed 23-of-37 passes for 62.2 percent and tossed three of his TD passes to Devin Borders, who finished with seven receptions for 119 yards.
 
After SEMO took a 6-0 lead on field goals of 50 and 30 yards by Ryan McCrum, EKU countered with 24-straight points and never looked back.

"We did a lot of things that poor football teams do," said SEMO head coach Tom Matukewicz. "We had several penalties and just looked like a tired football team. As soon as we got anything going, we fell apart. It wasn't our night."

The Colonels took their first lead of the game on Borders' 7-yard touchdown reception that capped an 83-yard drive with 8:47 left to play in the second quarter.
 
Following a SEMO punt, the Colonels went 91 yards in a quick 1:26 to score right before the intermission. Cameron Fogle hauled in an 18-yard pass from Coney to widen EKU's lead to 14-6 with six seconds on the clock.
 
EKU scored the first 10 points of the second half using a 56-yard scoring strike from Coney to Borders and a 49-yard field goal by Lucas Williams to push its lead to
24-6.
 
SEMO then stopped the scoring stretch when McCrum kicked his third field goal of the game to cut EKU's lead to 24-9 with 1:54 to play in the third quarter. McCrum, who made three field goals in a game for the second time this season, surpassed 200 career points.
 
The Colonels capitalized on a fumble by Tremane McCullough to score their final touchdown of the night. Coney connected with Borders on a 1-yard TD pass to expand EKU's lead to 31-9 with 8:42 remaining.
 
Jesse Hosket guided SEMO to its only touchdown when he threw for 87 yards during the Redhawks last drive. Hosket hooked up with Kristian Wilkerson on a 45-yard pass to make it 31-16 at the 3:42 mark.
 
Hosket completed a 20-yard pass to Marquette Murdock on a third-and-8 to move SEMO into EKU territory on the Redhawks opening drive of the game. After Hosket's pass went off McCullough's fingertips in the end zone, McCrum came on to give SEMO a 3-0 advantage with 9:48 remaining in the first quarter. The kick was McCrum's longest this season.
 
Ethan Thomas ripped off a 51-yard run on the first play of EKU's ensuing possession. The Colonels later had a first-and-Goal at SEMO's 10-yard line and managed to get to the one on a 5-yard rush by Coney. Devin Alexander dropped Thomas for no gain to end the threat.
 
SEMO, after taking over on downs at its 1-yard line, put together its longest drive of the season covering 93 yards in 10 plays. The Redhawks, however, came up empty when McCullough fumbled at the EKU 5-yard line after catching a 42-yard pass from Hosket.
 
The Redhawk defense took advantage of a muffed snap by Coney to get the ball back. Zach Hall recovered the fumble and SEMO settled for another field goal by McCrum to up its lead to 6-0 with 14:09 left to play in the second quarter.

Coney's four touchdown passes matched the total in his first three games combined. Borders averaged 17 yards per catch and Thomas ran for 92 yards on 20 carries to lead EKU. The Colonels piled up 527 yards of total offense, averaging just under six yards per play. The yardage was the most against SEMO's defense this year.

Hosket completed 24-of-41 passes for a season-best 291 yards. He threw for over 200 yards for the fifth-straight game. McCullough posted his first career 100-yard receiving game with 103 yards on eight catches. Will Young rushed for 81 yards on eight carries for the Redhawk offense, as well.

SEMO fumbled a season-high five times and turned the ball over twice. The Redhawks finished with 392 total yards and were penalized 10 times.

Defensively, Roper Garrett (12) and Mike Ford (11) gave SEMO two double-digit tacklers in a game for the first time this season. Ford had a game-high nine solo stops and Garrett returned an interception 22 yards.

The Redhawks dropped to 3-24 all-time against EKU.

SEMO is off next week and returns to action at Tennessee Tech on Oct. 22.