COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Tech (14-8, 6-3) heated up to shoot 57.1 percent in the second half and rallied behind Kajon Mack's game-high 22 points to beat Southeast Missouri (10-12, 4-5), 76-65, Thursday night at the Eblen Center.
 
TTU trailed the entire game until Mack's 3-pointer gave the Golden Eagles their first lead at 38-35 with 16:51 remaining. Mack made his first four field goals of the second half and finished with 15 of his points in the final 20 minutes.
 
SEMO pulled to within two points on a Ledarrius Brewer layup at the 7:13 mark and made it a 59-56 game on a lay-in by Jonathan Dalton. Mack, however, answered with field goals on both occasions.
 
Mack's layup following Dalton's layup sparked a 9-2 run for the Golden Eagles who took their first double-digit lead (69-58) on Shaq Calhoun's 3-pointer with 3:52 to go.  
 
SEMO led the whole first half and scored 18 of its first 33 points from 3-point range en route to a four-point halftime advantage (33-29).
 
Milos Vranes and Ray Kowalski each drained a 3-pointer to help grab the Redhawk an early 11-5 lead a little over seven minutes in.
 
Cade Crosland's 3-pointer later tied the game at 18-18, but SEMO answered with an 8-0 run to take its biggest lead of the half. Denzel Mahoney and Daniel Simmons both connected from long range to fuel that stretch which ended on Simmons' trifecta with 4:17 left to play.
 
Mahoney made a layup to again put SEMO ahead by eight and then buried a 3-pointer with five seconds on the clock after TTU pulled to within a point.
 
SEMO forced nine turnovers in the opening stanza and limited the Golden Eagles to 23.1 percent (3-of-13) from beyond the arc.
 
Mack shot 8-of-16 from the field and had four of TTU's eight 3-pointers. He also had eight rebounds and played all 40 minutes. Curtis Phillips followed with a double-double 19 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.
 
TTU outrebounded SEMO by a +20 margin (43-23) and held a 16-4 advantage on the offensive glass. The Golden Eagles also scored 36 points in the paint. In addition, they made 16-of-28 field goals in the second half.
 
Mahoney led SEMO with 19 points and buried 4-of-6 three-pointers. Simmons and Brewer followed with 13 points apiece. The Redhawks were outscored, 47-32, in the second half.
 
SEMO closes out its four-game road stretch at Jacksonville State Saturday.