CHARLESTON, Ill.– Jonathan Dalton scored a career-high 17 points and went over 300 career assists to lead Southeast Missouri (9-18, 4-10) to an 88-79 win over Eastern Illinois (14-13, 7-7) Saturday at Lantz Arena.
 
SEMO shot a season-high 54 percent (34-of-63) from the field and buried 11 3-pointers to go along with a season-best 23 assists in its first Ohio Valley Conference road victory.
 
Both teams shot over 55 percent and drained seven 3-pointers in a back-and-forth first half.
 
Ahead, 33-30, the Redhawks buried three 3-pointers to fuel an 11-2 run over a 3:11 stretch to take a 12-point lead. Oscar Kao, who scored seven first-half points off the bench, capped the run with his trifecta that put SEMO up 44-32 at the 3:18 mark.
 
Sage Tolbert rebounded a Dalton miss and scored a layup at the buzzer to send SEMO into the locker room with a 46-39 halftime advantage. The halftime lead was the Redhawks eighth of the season.
 
SEMO shot a red-hot 57.6 percent (19-of-33) from the field in the opening stanza. The Redhawks also had an assist on 16 of those made field goals.
 
Skyler Hogan gave the Redhawks a strong start to the second half scoring five-straight points in 1:10. Dalton then made a jumper to match the Redhawks largest lead at 53-41 with 17:52 to play.
 
Over the next six minutes, EIU knocked down five 3-pointers to get within a point and took a 62-61 lead on JaQualis Matlock's layup with 10 minutes on the clock.
 
EIU was up by one three more times until Dalton was fouled attempting a 3-pointer. Dalton made all three of his free throws to ignite a 14-4 run as SEMO pulled away for good. He also made a layup to cap the surge as the Redhawks widened their lead to 82-72 with 2:31 left.
 
SEMO's 88 points tied its season-high for most points in a conference game. The Redhawks swept EIU for the second year in a row and beat the Panthers for the fifth time in six meetings.
 
Dalton shot 4-of-6 from the field and made 8-of-9 free throws to go along with five assists. He finished with eight of the Redhawks nine free throws made for the game.
 
Gabe McGlothan followed with a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds. McGlothan scored 11 of his points in the second half. It was McGlothan's third double-double in four games.
 
Hogan and Gable scored 13 points apiece, as well. Gable drained three of SEMO's 3-pointers and pulled down eight rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Kao gave SEMO an extra boost with nine points and four assists.

Additionally, SEMO outrebounded EIU, 38-25, with 31 of its rebounds coming on the defensive end.
 
Ben Harvey scored 29 points to lead four EIU players in double figures. The Panthers shot 53.4 percent (31-of-58) on the day.
 
SEMO returns to action when it visits Austin Peay on Feb. 21.