CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Eric Reed, Jr. made two free throws with five tenths of a second left to propel Southeast Missouri (5-10, 3-6) to a thrilling 64-62 come-from-behind win over SIU Edwardsville (5-6, 3-2) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.

Reed, Jr. was fouled by Mike Adewunmi and calmly went to the line to sink his game-winning free throws. Jordan Love then stole the ball on the in-bound pass to polish off the win.

DQ Nicholas, who went scoreless in the first half, had seven huge points in the final stanza. Nicholas split two free throws to narrow SIUE's lead to 58-57 with 1:28 on the clock and later tied the game at 62-62 on a 3-pointer with 16 seconds to go. Nygal Russell scored a layup to make it a one possession game before Nicholas nailed his big trey.

SEMO trailed, 43-30, with 16:48 remaining before mounting its comeback.

Defensively, the Redhawks smothered the Cougars into committing 14 turnovers in the second half. SEMO converted those miscues into 15 points and won the half, 37-28. Five of those turnovers came in a ferocious span of 3:41.

Down, 50-39, with 11:27 left to play, SEMO used an 8-0 run ignited by 3-pointers from Love and Dylan Branson to narrow the Cougars lead to three.

Courtney Carter's jumper put SIUE ahead, 58-51, with a little under three minutes to go. The Redhawks were within three or less points five times down the stretch before getting ahead of the Cougars for the only time of the night on Reed, Jr.'s free throws.

Sidney Wilson set the Cougars off to a roaring start by scoring six of his team's first seven points as SIUE opened the contest on a 7-0 run. Wilson had double figures in the first 4:32 of play.

Nana Akenten later buried a 3-pointer and Nate Johnson later pulled SEMO within a point. Then, after Dylan Branson buried a 3-pointer to cut SIUE's lead to 24-22, the Cougars used a 10-0 surge to build a 12-point advantage.

Carter and Adewunmi each knocked down a 3-pointer before Wilson's layup stretched SIUE's lead to 34-22 with 1:33 left in the first half.

SEMO scored the last five points of the opening stanza and trailed, 34-27, at the intermission.

Akenten was the Redhawks only double-digit scorer with 10 points. Nine other Redhawks, however, joined Akenten in the scoring column. Nolan Taylor and Reed, Jr. followed with nine points each, while Harris and Nicholas chipped in seven apiece. Nicholas added seven rebounds, as well.

SEMO missed 15 free throws (17-of-32), but made the clutch shots it needed to win the game. The Redhawks finished strong shooting 55 percent (11-of-20) from the field in the second half after hitting just 25.7 percent (9-of-35) of its field goals in the opening 20 minutes.

Wilson scored a game-high 23 points to lead SIUE. Wilson scored 18 points in the first half, but was held to only five in the second.

The Redhawks improved to 14-4 all-time against SIUE at the Show Me Center. Additionally, SEMO picked up its fifth NCAA Division I win. As a result, the Redhawks matched their season total of Division I victories from a year ago. Interestingly enough, that fifth NCAA Division I win in 2019-20 also came against SIUE.

SEMO continues its homestand when it welcomes Eastern Illinois Saturday.