CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Ja Morant had a double-double 17 points and 14 assists to lead Ohio Valley Conference leader Murray State (13-2, 4-0) to an 85-67 victory over Southeast Missouri (6-11, 1-3) Saturday at the Show Me Center.

SEMO scored below 70 points for the third-straight game and did not lead for 40 minutes for the second game in a row.

"I was disappointed with how we performed tonight," said SEMO head coach Rick Ray. "We wanted to make them a halfcourt basketball team and simply didn't execute our gameplan. We need to play as a team on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court."

SEMO went toe-to-toe with rival MSU in the first half shooting 48.3 percent (14-of-29) as both teams traded baskets.

Down 29-17 with 10:27 remaining, the Redhawks went on an 11-0 run to get to within one. Alex Caldwell and Isaiah Gable each drained a 3-pointer with Caldwell's trifecta narrowing the Racers lead to 29-28 with just under nine minutes to go.

Morant answered with a layup and Brion Whitley buried a 3-pointer to put MSU back up by six.

Nygal Russell later made two free throws and Skyler Hogan made a jumper to cut the Racers lead to one twice more before the Racers led 46-38 at the half.

MSU outscored SEMO, 39-29, in the second half and led by as many as 24 when Mike Davis' 3-pointer made it a 75-51 game at the 8:02 mark.

Morant shot 6-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 at the free throw line, while pulling down three rebounds in 37 minutes.

Shaq Buchanan followed with 13 points and Darnell Cowart added 12. KJ Williams just missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds.
MSU shot 52.4 percent (33-of-63) from the field and outrebounded SEMO, 41-25. The Racers finished with 14 offensive rebounds and shot 59.4 percent in the first half, as well.

Ledarrius Brewer led the Redhawks with 13 points and Gable followed with 11.

SEMO made 43.6 percent (24-of-55) of its field goal attempts and shot 80 percent (12-of-15) at the free throw line.

The Redhawks hit the road to face Morehead State on Jan. 17.