CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri (10-15, 4-8) shot 55.6 percent and Denzel Mahoney scored 20 points in a 96-81 loss to Austin Peay (14-10, 9-3) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
 
SEMO had another strong start, but again fell victim to a big run midway through the second half.
 
APSU heated up to shoot 65 percent and SEMO shot a scorching 75 percent in the first 8:23 of the contest.
 
The Governors raced out to an 11-2 lead in the opening 2:03 of the contest. APSU made four of its first five shots with Terry Taylor and Averyl Ugba each hitting a 3-pointer to key the stretch. Ugba scored his first 14 points on a perfect 6-of-6 field goals during a span of 4:31 before the first media timeout.
 
SEMO countered with nine made field goals in its first 12 attempts and narrowed APSU's lead to three when Denzel Mahoney knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 25-22 with 12:45 remaining. Ledarrius Brewer's layup pulled the Redhawks within one possession again as SEMO cut the Governors lead to 29-26.
 
After that, the Redhawks buried a 3-pointer on three-straight possessions and took their first lead at 35-33 when Ray Kowalski splashed in a trey at the 8:22 mark.
 
The final eight minutes of the first half featured a made 3-pointer on nine possessions combined between the two teams and neither led by more than two points in the last 6:08 as the Governors headed into the locker room with a 51-49 edge.
 
SEMO finished the high-scoring first half by shooting 52.6 percent and APSU recorded a 66.7 percent clip. The Governors scored 14 of their points off layups and a total of four players scored double figures in the game's opening 20 minutes. The 49 points were the Redhawks most in a first half this season.
 
APSU and SEMO continued to go back-and-forth in the second half.
 
The Governors quickly extended their lead to five points on a 3-pointer by Dayton Gumm just 24 seconds in. APSU later went up by six on another layup by Ugba.
 
SEMO narrowed APSU's lead to two points on three occasions in the next 3:10, but the Governors answered each time.
 
After Mahoney's layup narrowed the score to 64-62 with 12:55 remaining, APSU went on a 15-2 run to take a 79-64 as the Redhawks went scoreless for 3:46. Daniel Simmons made a pair of free throws to end the drought with eight minutes to go.
 
SEMO, which was outscored 32-19 in the final 13 minutes, never recovered and fell to its fourth-straight loss.
 
Mahoney shot 7-of-18 from the field and grabbed five rebounds to lead the Redhawks. He needs only nine points to reach 1,000 in his career. Simmons followed with 18 points, Brewer and Kowalski each added 11 and Mark Laros chipped in 10. Additionally, Simmons led SEMO with seven rebounds.

SEMO was without starting center Justin Carpenter for the entire second half. Carpenter was under concussion protocol after a a collision he was involved in during the opening stanza.
 
Ugba led APSU with 28 points and eight rebounds. Taylor turned in his second double-double against the Redhawks this season. He finished with 19 points and 12 boards. Zach Glotta also pitched in 19 points off the bench and Gumm scored 14.
 
The Governors shot 55.2 percent (37-of-67) from the field and 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from 3-point range for the game.
 
SEMO returns to action when it visits Morehead State on Feb. 8.