CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (6-6) fell victim to a big first-half run and never recovered in a 75-67 loss to Bradley (10-2) Wednesday afternoon at the Show Me Center.
SEMO jumped out to an early 9-2 lead before Elijah Childs made three 3-pointers in a 1:10 stretch to grab BU a 17-14 advantage.
After
Ledarrius Brewer made two free throws to tie the game at 22-22 with a little over eight minutes remaining in the first half, the Braves answered with a 17-4 run to take a 39-26 lead with 56 seconds left. Darrel Brown's jumper capped the big surge, which saw BU drain three more treys.
BU later led, 41-29, at the half.
Down, 47-34, with 16:18 to go in the second half, SEMO put together a 13-3 run and managed to pull to within three when Brewer knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 50-47 at the 10:28 mark.
That was as close as the Redhawks would get.
Luuk van Bree responded with a 3-pointer of his own on the Braves ensuing possession. SEMO then made it a two-possession game when
Daniel Simmons made a layup to cut BU's lead to 57-51 with a little over seven minutes left.
The Braves would eventually widen their lead to 13 points on three occasions in the final five minutes en route to their win.
Brown led four BU players in double figures with 18 points. Childs and van Bree followed with 15 and 14 points off the bench, respectively. Nate Kennell added 12.
The Braves shot 47.2 percent from the field and made 53.3 percent (16-of-30) of their shots in the first half. BU also made 9-of-18 three-pointers.
Denzel Mahoney paved the way for SEMO with 17 points, including 10 at the free throw line. Brewer followed with 13 and
Ray Kowalski contributed 10.
The Redhawks were just 9-of-25 from 3-point range and shot under 40 percent (38.2) from the field for the game.
SEMO was without
Dondre Duffus who did not play due to a blood clot.
Meanwhile,
Mark Laros returned after missing four games with mononucleosis. Laros scored two points in six minutes.
The Redhawks wrap up non-conference play at Saint Louis Friday.
