CARBONDALE, Ill. – Southeast Missouri (5-6) scored a season-low 55 points in an 80-55 loss to longtime rival Southern Illinois (6-4) Wednesday night during the 119th all-time meeting between the schools.
SEMO fell to its sixth loss against a SIU team which shot 58.7 percent (27-of-46) from the field and buried 12 three-pointers for the night.
The Redhawks started strong scoring six of the game's first eight points and led 6-2 after Chris Harris drove the lane for a layup with 17:15 left in the opening half.
The Salukis, after making seven of their first nine field goals, stayed hot throughout the half shooting 54.5 percent (12-of-22) en route to its 29-23 halftime advantage.
SIU capitalized on a stretch where SEMO missed eight of nine shots. As a result, the Salukis used an 8-0 run to build a 24-13 lead, its biggest of the first half. Nate Johnson's turnaround jumper ended the Redhawks cold spell at the 5:56 mark.
The Salukis didn't let up in the second half and shot even better at a 64 percent clip. SIU made 16-of-25 field goals and drained 10 of its 3-pointers in the final 20 minutes.
SEMO made a pair of 3-pointers in the first two minutes of the second stanza and pulled to within three on each of those occasions. Phillip Russell and Eric Reed, Jr. each made it a one-possession game at the time.
SIU, however, answered both of those shots with 3-pointers of its own and went on to push its lead to 22 points before closing out its victory.
Steven Verplancken led SIU with a game-high 17 points and had five of the Salukis' treys. Marcus Domask added 16 points, Ben Coupet Jr. had 15 and Kyler Filewich pitched in 12.
The Salukis, who came into the game second-to-last in the Missouri Valley Conference in free throw percentage (.650), made 12-of-14 for 85.7 percent at the charity stripe.
Harris led three Redhawks in double figures with 12 points, while Russell and Reed, Jr. finished with 10 apiece.
SEMO shot 37.3 percent (22-of-59) from floor.
The Redhawks close out their non-conference schedule with two games in California before Christmas. SEMO plays at Pepperdine on Dec. 18 and California Baptist on Dec. 21.
