EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points and Antonius Cleveland added 19 to lead Southeast Missouri (12-15, 7-5) to a 71-67 win over SIU Edwardsville (5-21, 0-12) Thursday night.
 
SEMO dropped SIUE to its 12^th-straight loss and moved back into a tie for first atop the Ohio Valley Conference West Division after UT Martin fell to Eastern Illinois.
 
Free throws and turnovers were the difference as the Redhawks picked up their third road win of the season.
 
SEMO outscored the Cougars, 27-15, at the free throw line and forced 17 SIUE turnovers. The Redhawks converted those miscues into 22 points.
 
SIUE stormed out to an 18-4 lead in the first 5:35 behind three 3-pointers from Burak Eslik.
 
The Redhawks, however, battled back to tie the game on a pair of Trey Kellum free throws and took their first lead (30-29) on Tahj Eaddy's 3-pointer with 2:08 remaining in the first half.
 
Despite its slow start, SEMO managed to head into the locker room tied, 32-32, at the intermission.
 
The Cougars outrebounded the Redhawks, 24-13, and pulled down 10 offensive boards in the game's first 20 minutes.
 
SEMO used a 9-1 run to grab a 50-41 lead with 12:16 left to play in the second half. The Redhawks scored six of their points at the charity stripe during that stretch.
 
Cleveland's 3-pointer later gave SEMO its only double-digit lead at 65-55 at the 2:57 mark.
 
It was then a two-possession game for the final 1:38. SIUE pulled to within four on three occasions before taking the defeat.
 
Mahoney shot 5-of-10 from the field and a near-perfect 9-of-10 at the free throw line en route to his sixth 20-point game of the season. He also had a team-high eight rebounds and three steals.
 
Cleveland went 7-of-11 from the field and made 4-of-7 free throws to go along with four reboudns.
 
Eaddy and Kellum followed with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Eaddy came off the bench to shoot 5-of-7 from the floor.

SEMO made more free throws than SIUE attempted (22). The Cougars entered the game as the nation's No. 2 team in free throws attempted.
 
Jalen Henry led SIUE with a game-high 22 points and Eslik followed with 18.
 
SIUE held a +10 margin (40-30) on the boards with 19 offensive rebounds.
 
The Redhawks swept SIUE for the third time in the all-time series between the schools.
 
SEMO heads to Eastern Illinois for its final road game of the season Saturday. That game, which tips at 1 p.m., CT, will be televised on the American Sports Network.