CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo.– Ledarrius Brewer scored a game-high 24 points and threw down a go-ahead dunk to lead Southeast Missouri (7-14, 2-6) to a come-from-behind 64-59 win over Eastern Illinois (12-9, 5-3) Saturday at the Show Me Center.
 
Brewer, who tied the game at 59-59 when he drained a 3-pointer with just under two minutes left, drove the baseline for his huge dunk that gave SEMO the spark it needed to get by the Panthers.
 
"We drew up a play for Ledarrius to have the opportunity to drive the ball on the baseline and he did a great job of finishing," said SEMO head coach Rick Ray. "I give a ton of credit to our players who came back from a gut-wrenching triple overtime loss just 48 hours ago."
 
While Brewer's play was impressive, SEMO's defense clamped down to get seven-straight stops at the end of the game. The Redhawks tenacious defense also forced three turnovers in the final minute. 
 
EIU strung together a 19-5 run in the first 8:02 of the game. Wallace scored seven points and Shareef Smith made a jumper to end the jaunt with 11:58 remaining in the opening stanza.
 
Down 12, SEMO used an 11-2 run to dice the Panthers lead to 29-26. Gabe McGlothan brought the crowd to its feet when he threw down a monster dunk off a Sage Tolbert miss at the 3:06 mark.  
 
McGlothan came up with another big basket, this time when he buried a 3-pointer with 45 seconds left to narrow EIU's lead to 33-31 at the half. 
 
Brewer knocked down a 3-pointer to grab SEMO its first lead of the game at 40-39 with 12:58 left to play. After that, neither team led by more than four points until the final 21 seconds.
 
Brewer shot 7-of-17 from the field, made three 3-pointers and hit 7-of-9 free throws. He added four rebounds and five assists, as well.
 
Gable followed with 13 points and McGlothan narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.
 
SEMO turned the ball over just four times in the second half. In addition, the Redhawks outscored the Panthers, 18-2, at the free throw line.
 
Wallace led EIU with 21 points. He was limited to only seven points in the second half. Mack Smith and JaQualis Matlock followed with 12 and 10 points, respectively. The Panthers did not make a 3-pointer (0-of-7) in the game's final 20 minutes.
 
SEMO, which ended a five-game losing streak, heads to Belmont on Jan. 31.