Gritty Performance Leads to First Win at Tennessee Tech Since 2014 - Southeast Missouri State University Athletics

Thursday, January 16

Cookeville, Tenn.

7:30 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

10-9,5-3OVC

Tennessee Tech

9-9,4-3OVC

Team	1	2	F
Southeast Mo. St.	47	30	77
Tennessee Tech	26	44	70

Final Statistics

1/16/2025 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Statistics

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Teddy Washington, Jr. scored 17 points and Southeast Missouri (10-9, 5-3) grinded out a 77-70 win over Tennessee Tech (9-9, 4-3) Thursday night at the Eblen Center.

SEMO handed TTU its first home loss of the season and snapped a seven-game losing streak against the Golden Eagles in Cookeville.

Tonight's win was the Redhawks first at the Eblen Center since Jan. 18, 2014 (83-74) and by no means did it come easy.

Everything went right for SEMO in the first half, where the Redhawks opened things up by shooting a scorching 60 percent en route to getting their largest halftime lead against a Division I opponent this season.

Ahead, 22-18, SEMO went on a 13-2 run to grab a 15-point advantage.

BJ Ward buried two 3-pointers and Marqueas Bell converted a conventional 3-point play to key the surge that ended with a Troy Cole, Jr. jumper that put the Redhawks ahead, 35-20, with 6:10 remaining.

SEMO outscored TTU, 29-4, in the final 9:06 of the opening stanza and Braxton Stacker's layup extended the Redhawks lead to 21 (47-26) at the intermission.

The Redhawks made 18-of-30 field goals and registered their highest first-half field goal percentage this season.

SEMO also went a perfect 7-of-7 at the free throw line and forced nine turnovers in its balanced opening 20 minutes that saw eight Redhawks get in the scoring column.

Things suddenly began to turn in the second half when TTU used a 24-9 run in the first 10:06 to trim SEMO's lead to 56-50.

The Golden Eagles scored on 10 of their first 13 field goals at a 76.9 percent clip and made it a two-possession contest on Ola Ajiboya's dunk at the 9:54 mark.

Thirty-three seconds later, Daniel Egbuniwe got open for a two-handed jam to close SEMO's lead to 57-52.

TTU continued to chip away and tacked on two more points on free throws by Egbuniwe.

Moments after Washington, Jr.'s baseline jumper, Matthew Sells knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a two-point game at 59-57 with eight minutes to go.

SEMO then countered with a 9-0 run ignited with five-straight points from Rob Martin out of a media timeout.

Martin made two free throws and hit a 3-pointer before TJ Biel scored a second-chance layup. Braxton Stacker followed with a jumper to put the Redhawks back up by double figures (68-57) with 5:45 to go.

After Sells made his second 3-pointer, Kyle Layton scored on a driving layup, was fouled and added a free throw to slice SEMO's lead to 70-67 with 1:35 left.

Stacker, however, nailed a huge 3-pointer to push the Redhawks lead to 73-67 just 17 seconds later.

Washington, Jr. and Stacker each made two free throws in the final 33.7 seconds to seal it for good.

Washington, Jr. scored 12 of his points in the second half and finished with double figures for his team-high 14th time in 2024-25.

Martin and Stacker both chipped in 13 points. Martin made 4-of-9 field goals and Stacker hit 4-of-8 from the floor. Neither missed a free throw, as well, each going 4-of-4.

SEMO outrebounded TTU 33-29 and powered through a second half where it was outscored, 44-30.

The Redhawks return to action at Lindenwood on Jan. 23.