CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri men's basketball wrapped up the exhibition portion of its 2022-23 schedule on Sunday afternoon from the Show Me Center with an 84-51 win over Aurora University.
SEMO shot 49 percent from the field and 35 percent from three-point land for the contest en route to the 33-point victory. As a team, the Redhawks shot 74 percent from the free throw line as well.
The Redhawks received an impressive contribution from their bench, scoring 34 points amongst the non-starters in the contest.
Adam Larson led SEMO off the bench with nine points going 3-for-5 from behind the arc in 17 minutes of action.
For the second time this week,
Chris Harris and
Phillip Russell led the Redhawks in scoring with 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Harris went 4-for-13 from the field and a perfect 5-for-5 from the charity stripe. He grabbed five rebounds with three assists and two steals.
Russell knocked down four shots on 14 attempts while going 2-for-2 from the line in the contest. He also dished out nine assists with four steals and two rebounds.
Aurora University started the game out on a 5-0 run with back-to-back field goals from Brooks Schoon.
SEMO then went on a 10-0 run led by three free throws and a three-pointer from Harris to take a 10-5 lead.
At the first media timeout, the Redhawks led 15-5 and would push the lead to as high as 12, as SEMO led 27-15 with 10:42 left in the first half.
The Spartans would trim the lead down to just one (29-28) with 5:18 left in the first half.
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Tevin Gowins three sparked a run of nine straight points from the Redhawks to regrow the lead to 10 (38-28) late in the half.
At the break, the Redhawks led 41-34.
Russell led SEMO in scoring in the second half with eight points, going 3-for-9 from the field in the final 20 minutes.
The Redhawks never trailed in the second half, extending their advantage to 13 before the Spartans turned in their first basket of the second half on a Joevonn McCottry triple with 17:00 left in regulation.
SEMO shot 50 percent from the field in the second half on their way to their second-straight exhibition victory, adding a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
The Redhawks trailed for only 1:29 of game time as they wrapped the contest on an 8-0 run (84-51).
Aquan Smart and
Nate Johnson each added nine points each.
Evan Eursher and
Josh Earley both added eight points and Gowins had seven.
Johnson shot 4-for-5 from the field with three boards.
Kobe Clark led SEMO with 10 rebounds to go with four points and a block.
Josh Mitchell added five boards and three blocks in his SEMO debut.
SEMO will begin the 2022-23 regular season on Monday, Nov. 7, in Tampa, Fla. When they take on American Athletic Conference member South Florida. Tip-off Is slated for 7 p.m., CT at the Yuengling Center.