CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Men's Basketball (2-0, 0-0 OVC) defeated Lyon College (1-1) in their home opener at the Show Me Center on Saturday afternoon by a final score of 83-46. The Redhawks were led by point guard Phillip Russell who chipped in 23 points and four assists.  
 
SEMO opened with an 8-0 lead and utilized a 15-0 run to increase the Redhawks advantage to 32-8 with 3:16 remaining in the opening half. 
 
Russell wrapped the run with back-to-back triples before a lay-up. He led the Redhawks with 15 points at the break, going 6-for-12 including 3-for-8 from beyond the arc.
 
The Redhawks would then head to the locker room with a 34-13 advantage. 
 
Kobe Clark grabbed 10 rebounds to go with eight points in the initial 20 minutes. He would finish with 16 rebounds, eight points, and led the Redhawks in minutes played with 33. 
 
SEMO shot 35 percent from the field in the first half compared to Lyon College's 5-for-24 shooting rate. 
 
In the second half, the Redhawks were deadly from three, shooting a 45 percent clip (5-11) compared to just 13 percent in the first half. 
 
SEMO opened the second half with a great defensive play from center Nate Johnson. Johnson blocked the shot of Lyon's Nikola Sasaroga, and on the other end scored the first basket of the second half off a Russell assist, to give SEMO a 23-point advantage. 
 
Sasaroga would lead the Scots with nine points in the contest, going 4-7 from the field. 
 
Lyon would cut the SEMO lead to as low as 17 in the final 20-minutes of the game with a three pointer by Trenton Bell. 
 
Back-to-back baskets from forward Josh Earley and a Russell three-pointer extended the SEMO lead back to 24, and it never got below 20 again as the Redhawks dominated the second half. 
 
SEMO's bench delivered 30-points for the Redhawks, led by Earley who tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds in 16-minutes of action. 
 
Freshman center Mason Hanback made his Redhawk debut, playing 10-minutes and registering five points. 
 
As a team, SEMO finished the contest shooting 46.5 percent from the field (33-71), and a 24.2 percent clip from behind the arc (8-33).

SEMO will be back in action on Wednesday, Nov. 16, when they take on Evansville. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m., CT in Evansville, Indiana, from the Ford Center.