COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Southeast Missouri (5-7, 0-1) led by double figures late in the first half, but fell to Tennessee Tech (6-6, 1-0), 85-74, Thursday night at the Eblen Center.
 
TTU outscored SEMO, 51-39, in the second half and made a season-high 35 free throws en route to its first Ohio Valley Conference victory of the season. 
 
The Golden Eagles fell behind, 23-13, with 8:10 left to play in the first half and were down, 35-34, at halftime before taking control.
 
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Ty Owens and C.J. McPherson quickly gave TTU a 40-36 lead a little over two minutes into the second stanza and the Golden Eagles didn't trail again.
 
The Golden Eagles heated up to make five-straight field goals. Owens' driving layup pushed TTU's lead to 50-41 before Braxton Stacker countered with a 3-pointer to make it a two-possession game ahead of the second media timeout.
 
Malik Ferguson scored on a layup, was fouled and added a free throw to get TTU its first double-digit lead of the night at 54-44 with 12:40 on the clock.
 
The Golden Eagles were up by as many as 14 points and stayed ahead by double figures until Luke Almodovar knocked down a 3-pointer to make it a 74-67 game with 1:33 remaining.
 
Four of SEMO's first five made field goals of the game came from downtown.
 
BJ Ward, Brendan Terry and Almodovar each buried a three during a 14-3 run that helped get the Redhawks a 14-5 lead with 13:35 remaining in the first half.
 
Moments later, Elliot Lowndes drained a 3-pointer to give SEMO its first double-digit lead at 17-7.
 
Ward's tip-in put the Redhawks ahead by 10 again with a little over eight minutes to go.
 
SEMO then led 30-21 when TTU used a 9-0 run to tie the game. Dani Pounds made two free throws to bring the game to a 30-30 deadlock at the 2:16 mark.
 
Ward went to the free throw line and knocked down two free throws of his own to regain a 35-34 edge for the Redhawks at halftime.
 
There were a combined 50 fouls and 73 free throws attempted between the teams.
 
Ward matched a season-high 19 points on 6-of-18 field goals, three 3-pointers and a perfect 4-of-4 free throws. He also had six rebounds and dished out four assists.
 
Almodovar and Stacker followed with 17 and 12 points, respectively. Both made five free throws each, as well.
 
As a team, the Redhawks were 24-of-31 at the charity stripe.
 
Pounds led all scorers with a game-high 22 points, including 14 at the free throw line. He was 14-of-17 for the night.
 
TTU shot 52 percent (13-of-25) from the field and finished with a 83.3 percent clip (35-of-42) at the free throw line.
 
SEMO stays on the road to face Tennessee State in its last game before the Christmas holiday on Dec. 20.