CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Josh Earley scored a career-high 19 points and Aquan Smart made the game-winning shot with seven seconds left to send Southeast Missouri (1-3) to its first win of the season, 70-68, over Central Arkansas (1-4) Monday night.
 
Tied, 68-68, Smart drove to his right and sunk a baseline jumper with one second on the shot clock. Before that make, Smart was only 2-of-10 from the floor.
 
UCA had one last chance, but SEMO didn't let the Bears get a shot off.
 
The Redhawks overcame a 12-point deficit in the second half to grind out their pre-Thanksgiving holiday win.
 
UCA began the second half with a 14-3 run to take a double-digit lead in the six minutes. Masai Olowokere knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers with is second extending the Bears' margin to 41-30 with 14:10 to go.
 
The Bears ran their largest lead to 12 points before Gavyn Elkamil later made it a three-point contest. Elkamil drained a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to slice UCA's lead to 52-49 at the 8:37 mark.
 
BJ Ward's pullup jumper cut the score to 52-51 with a little over seven minutes remaining and SEMO was down one again (55-54) following TJ Biel's free throw.
 
After that, UCA countered with five-straight points to pull ahead, 60-54, with 5:31 on the clock.
 
The Bears, down 68-66, went over three minutes without a field goal until Ubong Abasi Etim's layup tied things up with 36 seconds to go.
 
SEMO and UCA went back-and-forth in a first half that included eight ties and nine lead changes. Neither team was ahead by more than four points and each struggled from behind the 3-point line going a combined 1-of-17.
 
Earley gave the Redhawks their first lead of the season on a layup 22 seconds into the contest. Smart's fast break layup later put SEMO ahead, 22-19, for its biggest advantage of the first half with 4:07 remaining.
 
After SEMO missed its first 11 shots from long range, Elkamil ended that stretch when he buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 25-25 with just under two minutes left.
 
Earley's hookshot then brought the game to a 27-27 deadlock at the intermission.
 
Earley shot a near-perfect 8-of-9 from the field en route to his career-best. He scored 10 of his points in the first half. Earley added a team-high seven rebounds, as well.
 
Elkamil and Evan Eursher followed with 11 and 10 points off the bench, respectively. Eursher made a pair of 3-pointers to help get the Redhawks within a point (65-64) with 2:04 on the clock.
 
SEMO outrebounded UCA, 37-33, and held a 32-26 edge in the paint.
 
Etim paced the Bears with 15 points and eight boards.
 
The Redhawks will break for Thanksgiving before heading to the Coke Zero Sugar Classic in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, SEMO will face Evansville on Nov. 25 and host Chattanooga on Nov. 26.