CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eric Reed, Jr. scored a career-high 27 points and drained seven 3-pointers to lead Southeast Missouri (10-15, 8-11) to a 94-88 win over Eastern Illinois (9-17, 6-13) Thursday night at Lantz Arena.
 
With the win, SEMO locked up a spot in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament. The Redhawks will make their first OVC Tournament appearance since 2017 and 16th all-time in program history. Brad Korn, in his first year as a head coach, is the first to lead SEMO to the conference tournament since it has been held in Evansville, Indiana.
 
Reed, Jr., this week's OVC Newcomer of the Week, scored over 20 points for the third time in his last five starts and SEMO made its free throws down the stretch to nail down its 10th win of the season.

The Redhawks eliminated the Panthers OVC Tournament hopes and can finish as high as seventh with a win at SIU Edwardsville Saturday.
 
SEMO started hot in the first half shooting 64.3 percent (9-of-14) from the field burying five of its first six 3-pointers.
 
Nana Akenten scored the Redhawks first eight points of the game and had 11 in the first half. SEMO buried seven 3-pointers in the opening stanza as Reed, Jr. also notched 11 points and buried three treys. The Redhawks led by seven (26-19) on Reed, Jr.'s 3-pointer with 11:12 remaining. 
 
Josiah Wallace later made two free throws and Marvin Johnson made a layup to give EIU a 42-34 lead with less than a minute left before the Panthers held a 44-39 advantage at the intermission.
 
SEMO and EIU traded baskets and DQ Nicholas gave the Redhawks their first lead of the second half at 71-70 when he drained a 3-pointer with 5:28 to go.
 
The Redhawks never lost the lead from that point on and made 11 free throws in the final 54 seconds to polish off their victory.
 
SEMO's 94 points were the Redhawks most in a road OVC game in eight years.
 
The Redhawks finished strong shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the field in the second half alone. For the game, SEMO shot 74.1 percent at the free throw line on 20-of-27 shots.
 
Reed, Jr. was 10-of-16 from the field and 7-of-9 from downtown. He dished out two assists and had two steals, as well.
 
Four others, including Nicholas (14), Akenten (11), Darrious Agnew (10) and Nate Johnson (10) joined Reed, Jr. with double figures in the scoring column. Nygal Russell led the way with nine rebounds.
 
SEMO outscored EIU, 55-44, in the second half.
 
The Redhawks close out the regular season at SIU Edwardsville Saturday. SEMO will then open OVC Tournament play as either the seven or eight seed on Wednesday, Mar. 3 in Evansville, Indiana.