CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Southeast Missouri (5-18, 2-8) battled back from an 18-point deficit to pull to within three with less than a minute left, but came up short in a 78-72 loss to rival Murray State (12-11, 6-4) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.

Southeast trailed, 54-36, after MSU buried four 3-pointers in the first 3:42 of the second half. Jeffery Moss knocked down three of his game-high seven trifectas during that stretch.

The Redhawks, who never led in the game, clawed their way back and managed to cut MSU's lead to three points on three occasions in the final six minutes.

Antonius Cleveland sent a jolt into the home crowd when he threw down a dunk off a Jamaal Calvin pass, cutting the Racers lead to 65-62 at the 5:53 mark. Cleveland later got a steal and scored a layup to make it a 69-66 game with 3:37 left to play.

Then, Calvin made two free throws to slice MSU's lead to 75-72 with 40 seconds remaining.

After MSU called timeout, Calvin stole the ball from Justin Seymour and drove to the basket for a layup. Calvin, however, slipped near the low block and turned the ball over with 11 seconds on the clock.

MSU added three free throws in the last eight seconds to claim the win.

The Racers virtually couldn't miss, shooting 63 percent (17-of-27) from the field in the first half.

MSU scored the first seven points to key a 10-2 run in the first 3:12. Gee Mcghee and Moss each buried a 3-pointer to ignite the surge.

Wayne Langston's layup gave MSU its first double-digit lead at 17-6 before Southeast answered with a 14-4 run. Freshman Eric McGill knocked down three 3-pointers and sliced the Racers lead to 21-20 on his third trey at the 8:11 mark.

McGill, who added two more 3-pointers, narrowed MSU's lead to 25-23 with 6:26 left, but that was as close as the Redhawks would get. McGhee followed McGill's basket with a 3-pointer of his own before the Racers went on to grab a 40-32 halftime lead.

Moss finished with a game-high 26 points on 9-of-14 field goals and 7-of-11 threes to lead MSU. He also pulled down seven rebounds in 39 minutes. Moss scored 16 of his points in the second half alone.

"We did a poor job of following the scouting report on Moss," said Southeast head coach Rick Ray. "You have to take away his space and we didn't do that. We didn't throw the ball inside and our post guys didn't work for position."

Besides Moss, the other thing that hurt Southeast was points off turnovers. MSU scored 23 of its points off 13 Redhawk miscues.

The rest of the Racers starters, including Langston (12), McGhee (10), Bryce Jones (10) and Damarcus Croaker (10) joined Moss with double figures in the scoring column.

MSU ended the night shooting a season-best 57.7 percent (30-of-52) from the floor.

Cleveland and McGill led Southeast with 22 and 20 points, respectively. It marked the first time where the Redhawks had a pair of 20-point scorers in a game this season. McGill, who did not miss a 3-pointer (6-of-6) knocked down five threes in the first half. He became the first Southeast player to make at least five 3-pointers in a first half since Corey Wilford went 6-of-7 at Austin Peay on Feb. 28, 2013.

Trey Kellum contributed 11 points for Southeast, as well.

The Redhawks outscored MSU, 40-38, and shot 55.6 percent (15-of-27) in the second stanza.

Southeast and MSU played in front of a national television audience on ESPNU.

The Redhawks a short turnaround before heading to Eastern Illinois for a 11 a.m., CT, matchup Saturday. That game will be televised live on the American Sports Network (locally on MyTV WDKA).