FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Luke Almodovar scored a career-high 29 points with 27 in the second half to lead Southeast Missouri (2-4) to an 84-68 win over Cal Poly (3-5) Tuesday night at the Rolle Activity Center.
 
SEMO trailed, 31-29, at halftime but rallied to outscore Cal Poly, 55-37, in the second half behind Almodovar's massive performance.
 
The Redhawks made only one 3-pointer and shot under 30 percent (28.6) in the first half before turning it on the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Almodovar scored a layup on the opening possession of the second stanza and then drained a 3-pointer to give SEMO its first lead of the night at 34-33 with 18:28 to go.
 
Down, 43-40, Braxton Stacker made a layup, was fouled and converted a 3-point play to kickstart a decisive 23-2 run for the Redhawks.
 
Stacker later threw down a big dunk to cap that surge giving SEMO a 63-48 advantage with just under 10 minutes on the clock.
 
Almodovar then made two free throws extending SEMO's lead to 70-50, its largest of the game and Cal Poly never recovered.
 
Almodovar shot 10-of-15 from the field and 4-of-7 from 3-point range in the second half after going 1-of-6 from the field and 0-of-3 from distance in the opening period. He recorded his third 20-point game of the season.
 
Both teams were cold in the first half and struggled from long range.
 
Cal Poly, which entered the game with a Big West Conference leading 78 three-pointers made, went just 2-of-14 from beyond the arc. SEMO, meanwhile, made only 1-of-15.
 
After Stacker made a jumper to tie the game at 14-14, the Mustangs scored the next seven points all from the free throw line to take a 21-14 advantage with 6:35 to go.
 
Stacker ended SEMO's three-point drought with his team's first trey to trim Cal Poly's lead down to 29-26 at the 2:14 mark.
 
Brendan Terry later made a layup to get the Redhawks within a point before the Mustangs carried their two-point edge into the intermission.
 
Thirteen of Cal Poly's points in the first half came at the free throw line and the Mustangs mis-fired on 12 of their final 14 field goals in the opening stanza.
Stacker and BJ Ward added 18 and 12 points, respectively. Stacker also made 4-of-4 free throws extending his streak to 29-straight makes dating back to last season.
 
SEMO shot 63.6 percent (21-of-33) from the field in the second half.
 
The Redhawks turn around to face Northern Arizona Wednesday.