CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Denzel Mahoney matched a season-high 27 points and Southeast Missouri (3-4) put together a big second half in a 83-59 win over Hannibal-LaGrange Tuesday night at the Show Me Center.
 
SEMO and HLG were tied at the half before the Redhawks blew by the Spartans, 50-26, in the second stanza.
 
"It was a good win for us. We need to worry about improving as a team," said SEMO head coach Rick Ray. "I thought we did a really good job playing basketball the right way in the second half."
 
The Redhawks trailed, 35-33, just 17 seconds into the second half before Mahoney made three free throws after he was fouled on a 3-pointer. SEMO never relinquished the lead from that point on.
 
Freshman Isaiah Gable's layup gave the Redhawks their first double-digit lead at 56-46 with just under 11 minutes left.
 
Ahead, 63-50, SEMO then strung together a 12-0 run with freshman Ledarrius Brewer draining a pair of threes to key the stretch. Brewer's second 3-pointer ran the Redhawks lead to 75-50 at the 6:31 mark.
 
SEMO outscored the Spartans 18-9 in the final 8:24 of the game to nail down its third win of the season.
 
The Redhawks turned up the pressure defensively in the second half collecting eight of their 10 steals.
 
"Our guys did a really good job flying around and getting to the ball," commented Ray.
 
SEMO fell behind early in the game when HLG took a 4-0 advantage 1:12 in. That was the largest lead for the Spartans.
 
The Redhawks ended a two-game losing streak and picked up their 27^th-straight win against non-Division I opponents.
 
Mahoney shot 9-of-16 from the field, 3-of-4 from beyond the arc and a near-perfect 6-of-7 at the free throw line to lead four Redhawks in double figures.
 
Brewer followed with 15 points, while Daniel Simmons added 12 and Mark Laros pitched in 10 points and had five rebounds. Gable pulled down a season-high 10 rebounds, as well.
 
SEMO shot 51.5 percent (17-of-33) from the field in the second half and just under 50 percent (49.2) for the game. The Redhawks also outrebounded HLG, 37-33. Additionally, SEMO forced 18 turnovers and had its bench outscore the Spartan reserves, 32-6.
 
Brady Smith led the Spartans with 21 points.
 
SEMO makes the return trip on the back end of its home-and-home series with North Carolina Central Saturday. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m., CT, in Durham.