CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Aquan Smart scored 16 points, grabbed six rebounds and had six assists to lead Southeast Missouri to a 76-61 exhibition win over Henderson State Monday night at the Show Me Center.
 
Smart scored 10 of his points in the first half and did not miss a free throw going 8-of-8 at the charity stripe.
 
SEMO trailed, 22-16, with 10:53 remaining in the first half when it used an 11-0 run to take a five-point advantage. Evan Eursher made a jumper to get the Redhawks within two and Braxton Stacker threw an alley oop pass to TJ Biel who threw down a dunk to tie the game at 22-22.
 
Smart then drained a 3-pointer off a HSU turnover and Josh Earley added a second-chance layup to push SEMO's lead to 27-22 with just under seven minutes left.
 
The Reddies tied things up at 29-29 at the 4:31 mark, but the Redhawks built their biggest lead of the half at 38-32 on two free throws by Smart. Tim McDonald's 3-pointer at the buzzer narrowed the score to 38-35 at the intermission.
 
SEMO never trailed again and got a nice lift from Earley to start the second half. Earley scored the first eight points in 3:16. His dunk at the end of that stretch extended the Redhawks lead to 46-37 with 16:44 to go.
 
Shortly after Ken Lewis made two free throws to get HSU within three (48-45), David Idada scored in the paint and Gavyn Elkamil rebounded a missed 3-pointer by Biel and scored to put SEMO ahead, 52-45, with 10:41 left.
 
Stacker's corner 3-pointer ran the Redhawks lead to double-digits (55-45). That make was part of a 7-0 run for SEMO during a period where HSU didn't score for over four-and-a-half minutes.
 
Dylan Branson's second-chance layup gave SEMO a 63-50 lead.
 
The Reddies, however, kept chipping away and countered with a 9-0 run. McDonald's two free throws closed SEMO's lead to 63-59 with 4:19 to go and that was as close as HSU could get the rest of the way.
 
BJ Ward knocked down a jumper and Stacker stole the ball and scored on a fast break dunk to widen SEMO's margin to 67-59. 
 
Ward and Elkamil each buried a 3-pointer to polish off SEMO's 15-point preseason win.
 
Smart led five Redhawks with double figures in the scoring column. Earley followed with 12 points, while Biel, Stacker and Ward pitched in 10 apiece.
 
SEMO shot 41.3 percent (26-of-63) from the field and 81 percent (17-of-21) at the free throw line for the game. The Redhawks also outrebounded the Reddies, 40-34. 
 
The Redhawks start their 2023-24 season at Grand Canyon on Nov. 6.