CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Geno Hess ran for 176 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough as Aaron Baum kicked a game-winning 35-yard field goal with time expiring to send Murray State (3-3) to a 32-31 victory over Southeast Missouri (2-5) Saturday.
 
MSU scored 16 fourth-quarter points to edge SEMO after trailing, 31-16, following three quarters of play.
 
The Racers put together their longest drive of the game covering 84 yards in six plays to start their late comeback. DJ Williams threw a 16-yard pass to Damonte Witherspoon to narrow SEMO's lead to 31-22 with 13:36 on the clock.
 
SEMO punted on its next possession and Zach Haynes' kick hit a Redhawk player. Malik Honeycutt advanced the ball 52 yards to the end zone on his return that quickly made it a 31-29 game at the 11:51 mark. MSU's 13-point swing came in a short 1:45.
 
MSU needed another stop and would get it when it forced the Redhawks to punt again. The Racers took over on downs at their own 35-yard line with just 1:02 remaining.
 
Williams ran for a pair of big first downs and completed a 21-yard pass to Witherspoon to help get the Racers in field goal range. SEMO called timeout with five seconds left before Baum's field goal split the uprights.
 
MSU's final 16 points of the game followed a 21-point third quarter surge by SEMO.
 
In the last 5:26 of the period, CJ Ogbonna and Hess scored on runs of five and 12 yards, respectively, and Zack Smith caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Ogbonna to take a 31-16 advantage. 
 
SEMO's game-opening 53-yard drive resulted in a 40-yard field goal by Kenny Doak and the Redhawks took an early 3-0 lead with 13:02 left to play in the first quarter. A pass interference nullified an initial passing touchdown for SEMO.
 
MSU quickly answered and used a fake punt on a fourth-and-3 to keep its first possession alive. Eric Samuta picked up the first down with an 8-yard run.
 
Williams later completed a 14-yard pass to Cole McDowell on a third-and-long. Four plays later, Williams scored on a 1-yard rush to give the Racers a 7-3 advantage at the 5:33 mark.
 
The Redhawks responded immediately with a 13-play, 75-yard march capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by Hess.
 
After Williams hooked up with Michael Smith on a 22-yard completion on third-and-11, Williams hit paydirt for the second time, this time finding the end zone on a 12-yard run. Baum's extra point attempt went off the upright as MSU took its first lead at 13-10 with just under seven minutes (6:58) remaining in the second quarter.
 
Baum then kicked an 18-yard field goal as time expired in the first half giving the Racers a 16-10 lead at the intermission.
 
Hess averaged eight yards per carry on 22 touches. He ran for over 100 yards for the fourth time this season. Hess surpassed 2,000 rushing yards (2,067) in his career, becoming only the 10th player in program history to go over 2,000 rushing yards.
 
Ogbonna completed 9-of-20 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, and picked up 36 more yards and another score on 10 carries.
 
Smith and Aaron Alston were SEMO's top receivers with 84 and 61 yards. Alston returned after missing the last three games.
 
Defensively, freshman Bryce Norman paved the way with 10 tackles, the first double-digit tackle game of his career. Keandre Booker added eight tackles, a sack and 2.5 tackles for loss. SEMO's streak of getting a takeaway ended at 20 games.
 
Williams threw for 240 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-29 passes and gained 81 yards and scored twice more on the ground.
 
MSU outgained SEMO, 438-371, and neither team had a turnover. The Racers had a +7:20 in time of possession, as well.
 
Saturday's game did not count toward the Ohio Valley Conference standings.SEMO heads to #16 UT Martin for another one of those matchups on Oct. 23.