EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Chris Harris had a double-double 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Nate Johnson added a career-high 17 points to lead #5 Southeast Missouri (17-16) to a 91-83 victory over #4 Tennessee State (18-14) Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
 
SEMO eliminated TSU in the quarterfinals for the second-straight year and moves on to Friday's semifinals to face #1 Morehead State. Tip-off of that game is set for 7 p.m., CT and will be televised live on ESPNU.
 
The Redhawks outlasted the Tigers in another physical matchup, this time which resulted in a combined 55 fouls. SEMO outscored TSU, 34-17 at the free throw line and that was the difference in the end.
 
In the game's final minute alone, TSU pulled to within six on four occasions, but the Redhawks made eight-straight free throws to nail down the win. 
 
SEMO started off completely different than it did a night earlier in its first-round victory over Lindenwood.
 
The Redhawks made six of their first 11 field goals and forced five turnovers in the game's opening eight minutes. Phillip Russell drove in for a layup and followed that up with a pullup 3-pointer to put SEMO ahead, 12-7, with 14:06 remaining in the first half.
 
SEMO later converted on five of seven shots to grab a 26-20 advantage. Johnson got loose for a big two-handed dunk to complete that stretch at the 7:36 mark.
 
TSU answered with a 9-0 run which started with four-straight points by David Acosta. Dedric Boyd followed with a 3-pointer and scored an uncontested layup to give the Tigers a 29-26 edge with 5:21 to play.
 
Josh Earley's reverse layup and Israel Barnes' basket off a nice inbounds pass by Aquan Smart fueled a 6-0 surge right before Chris Harris drained a 3-pointer to regain a 34-31 lead for SEMO.
 
TSU missed eight of its last nine field goals of the first half as SEMO stayed ahead, 35-31, at the intermission.
 
The Redhawks forced nine turnovers and scored 14 points off those miscues in the opening stanza.
 
SEMO began the second half with Johnson getting open for another dunk. 
 
Johnson later scored again, this time on a wide open layup. That led to three points when a David Acosta was called for a technical foul on a flop.
 
Russell's deep 3-pointer from the top of the arc and a dunk by Johnson extended SEMO's lead to 50-38 with 14:35 to go.
 
The Redhawks continued to attack TSU and stretched their lead to 15 on multiple occasions. Russell made two free throws to make it a 56-41 game. Shortly after that, Harris buried two free throws to get SEMO a 58-43 lead with 11:31 on the clock.
 
Marcus Fitzgerald completed a 3-point play to close the Redhawks lead to 60-51 at the 9:51 mark. However, Harris splashed in a 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring to grab SEMO a 67-54 lead with under eight minutes.
 
The Tigers managed to get within nine again on a pair of free throws by Jr. Clay with 5:35 left to play. Then, after Christian Brown scored a second-chance layup, Brown stole the ball and scored a layup to narrow SEMO's lead to 71-64 with 3:50 left.
 
TSU kept inching closer and used a Zion Griffin free throw to make it a seven-point game again.
 
Johnson then snapped SEMO's span of 4:43 without a field goal with a bucket underneath. Johnson was fouled knocked down his free throw to up the Redhawks lead to 74-65 at the 2:55 mark.
 
SEMO shot 43.9 percent (25-of-57) from the field and 81 percent at the free throw line on 34-of-42 attempts. The 34 made free throws are a new season-high.
 
Harris shot 5-of-12 from the field and made 16-of-18 free throws. For Harris, the 16 made free throws are a career-high. He also dished out four assists in 38 minutes.
 
Johnson did not miss a field goal going 7-of-7 to go along with 3-of-4 free throws and two boards.
 
Russell pitched in 18 points, with eight coming at the free throw line, while Smart contributed 10.
 
Additionally, SEMO assisted 16 of its 25 made field goals.
 
Clay scored a game-high 34 points and pulled down 11 rebounds to lead TSU in his final college game.
 
The Redhawks are in the OVC Tournament semifinals for the fifth time in program history. SEMO also made semifinal appearances in 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2022. Additionally, both the Redhawk men's and women's teams are in the OVC Tournament semifinals in the same year for the first time since 2005.