EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Denzel Mahoney celebrated his 20th birthday by scoring a career-high 36 points to lead Southeast Missouri (9-11, 3-4) to an 86-74 win over SIU Edwardsville (7-11, 3-4) Thursday night at the Vadalabene Center.

Mahoney's 36 points tied Murray State's Jonathan Stark for the Ohio Valley Conference single-game high this season and the Redhawks picked up their first road win in league play.

SEMO led for all but 2:17 of the game and put together a big second half to tame the Cougars.

The Redhawks shot 50 percent from the field and heated up to knock down 7-of-13 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes.

SEMO made five 3-pointers in the first 8:39 of the second half en route to building its largest lead of the night. Jonathan Dalton and Mahoney drained 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to put the Redhawks ahead, 64-46, with 11:21 remaining. Mahoney accounted for three of the five treys during that stretch.

SIUE managed to trim SEMO's lead to 68-61 on a layup by Brandon Jackson at the 6:47 mark, but that was as close as the Cougars would get.

 Mahoney dropped in 15 of his points to help SEMO grab a 35-28 advantage at the half.

Both teams started slow combining for just 7-of-25 (28 percent) from 3-point range during the opening stanza.

After Justin Benton made a 3-pointer to cut the Redhawks lead to 21-18 with 4:54 left to play, SEMO went on a 10-4 run to build its biggest lead of the half. Ray Kowalski, who missed the last two games due to illness, knocked down a 3-pointer. Mahoney added five points and Mark Laros made an easy layup off a nice pass by Jonathan Dalton as SEMO pulled ahead, 31-22, with under two minutes to play.

Mahoney shot 9-of-14 from the field, 5-of-7 from 3-point range and 13-of-15 at the free throw line. It was the second 30-point performance of his career and his five treys were a new career-best. Mahoney has now scored double figures in 17-straight games. In addition, he led the Redhawks with seven rebounds.

"Denzel had a command performance," said SEMO head coach Rick Ray. "That is a way to celebrate a birthday! It was a great effort on the offensive and defensive end."

Freshman Ledarrius Brewer followed with 11 points and six boards and Dalton added a game-high seven assists. Ray Kowalski, who missed SEMO's last two games due to illness scored eight points in 15 minutes off the bench.

David McFarland led SIUE with 22 points and nine rebounds. McFarland knocked down a career-high five 3-pointers. Jalen Henry and Benton followed with 11 and and 10 points, respectively.

SEMO held SIUE under 40 percent (39.7) from the field.

"I thought collectively we did a really good job defensively," said Ray. "At the end of the day, it was all about our defensive performance."

The Redhawks head to Eastern Illinois Saturday. Tip-off is set for 3:15 p.m., CT, at Lantz Arena.