CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Israel Barnes scored 20 points to lead Southeast Missouri (8-10, 3-2) to an 94-71 drubbing of first-year Ohio Valley Conference member Lindenwood (7-11, 2-3) Thursday night at the Show Me Center.
 
In the first meeting between the teams, SEMO picked up its second-straight win and improved to 4-2 at home this season. The Redhawks earned their largest win of the season against a Division I opponent, as well.
 
SEMO shot an OVC single-game high 63 percent and led for all but 3:51 of the contest.
 
SEMO started red-hot shooting 63 percent from the field and burying seven 3-pointers in the first half alone.
 
The Redhawks made nine of their first 15 shots and rallied behind Barnes who came off the bench to drop in 13 points in 16 minutes.
 
Ahead, 10-7, Barnes nailed a 3-pointer to start a 10-2 run and help grab the Redhawks a double-digit lead. He later scored a layup before Adam Larson knocked down a trey to widen the Redhawks margin to 20-9 with 11:20 remaining in the first half.
 
Up 11 (24-13), Larson buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to stretch SEMO's lead to 30-13 with a little under nine minutes to go.
 
Phillip Russell's 3-pointer gave SEMO its largest lead of the half (38-17) with 5:52 left. After a Chris Harris three game the Redhawks their second 21-point advantage, SEMO headed into the locker room with a 45-28 lead.
 
SEMO registered its best first-half field goal percentage of the season.
 
Russell hit a 3-pointer on two-straight possessions to give the Redhawks their biggest lead of the night at 73-48 with 8:41 left to play.
 
After that, the closest LU would get was within 16 (82-66) at the 4:04 mark.
 
The Redhawks won consecutive games for the second time this season and first since late November.
 
SEMO's 94 points marked a season-high as Barnes led four Redhawks in double figures. Barnes, who scored 20 points for the fourth time, shot 9-of-12 from the field.
 
Russell followed with 16 points, while Harris added 13 and Larson chipped in 11.
 
The Redhawks finished with 12 threes getting 10 or more treys in a game for the sixth time in 2022-23.
 
SEMO returns to action when it visits OVC co-leader Morehead State Saturday.