EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Phillip Russell scored 19 points, including 13 in the second half, and #5 Southeast Missouri (16-16) never trailed for the final 21:34 of the game in an 84-65 win over #8 Lindenwood (11-21) Wednesday night in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
SEMO, which outscored LU, 45-30, in the game's final 20 minutes, moves on to face #4 Tennessee State in the quarterfinals Thursday. Tip is set for 6:30 p.m., CT at the Ford Center.
 
The Redhawks grabbed the lead with 1:34 left to play in the first half and never fell behind again en route to giving Brad Korn his second postseason victory as SEMO's head coach.
 
Tied, 35-35, SEMO closed out the first half strong scoring the last four points off a free throw by Aquan Smart and 3-pointer by Chris Harris to take a 39-35 lead at the intermission. Harris' three capped a streak of five-consecutive made field goals by the Redhawks.
 
The Redhawks put together an 8-2 run to get ahead by seven early in the second half. Russell scored six of those points, including a driving layup to get SEMO a 52-45 lead with 13:04 left.
 
SEMO extended its lead to nine twice after that. Josh Earley's second-chance jumper put the Redhawks up, 62-53, on the latter of those occasions with 10:34 to go.
 
After Smart drained a 3-pointer, he drove the lane and scored to give SEMO its first double-digit lead. Smart was fouled and added a free throw to widen the Redhawks margin to 70-59 at the 7:43 mark. 
 
A layup by Dylan Branson ran the score to 76-61 with 4:30 on the clock and the Redhawks then built their largest lead of the night to 21 (82-61) on Russell's layup off a turnover.
 
Both teams struggled to settle in during the first half.
 
SEMO missed its first six shots before Harris' jumper put the Redhawks' first points on the board. SEMO shot just 1-of-12 from the field in the first 6:33.
 
Meanwhile, LU shot just 27.8 percent with misses on 13 of its first 18 field goals. Combined, the teams were 1-of-11 from 3-point range through the opening 8:16 of play.
 
Earley (12-10) rebounded his own miss and Phillip Russell (14-12) scored on a layup to cut the Lions' lead to two on those occasions. 
 
Branson buried SEMO's first 3-pointer of the game after the Redhawks mis-fired on their first six attempts from long range. Branson's three narrowed LU's lead to 16-15 with a little over 10 minutes to go.
 
The Redhawks later pulled ahead for the first time when Earley broke free on a fast break and threw down a dunk off an assist by Smart to ignite a four-point swing. Harris followed with a jumper to give SEMO a 19-18 edge at the 7:59 mark. 
 
Russell made 5-of-6 free throws to go along with his seven made field goals. He also had four rebounds, five assists and five steals.
 
Earley turned in a double-double 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench, his second of the season.
 
Evan Eursher put together his biggest game of the season adding a season-best 13 points on a near-perfect 5-of-6 from the floor. Eursher buried 3-of-3 from 3-point range in 21 minutes off the bench.
 
Smart and Harris each pitched in 11 points.
 
SEMO man-handled LU on the boards posting a 50-34 advantage. The Redhawks pulled down 17 offensive rebounds and outscored the Lions, 17-0, in second-chance points.
 
As a team, the Redhawks shot 42.3 percent for the game.