Martin’s Career-High 31 Points Propel Redhawks to First Outright OVC Title - Southeast Missouri State University Athletics

Thursday, February 27

Edwardsville, Ill.

7:30 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

20-10,15-4OVC

SIU Edwardsville

19-11,12-7OVC

Team	1	2	F
Southeast Mo. St.	42	41	83
SIUE	29	39	68

Final Statistics Photos

2/27/2025 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Statistics Photos

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – Rob Martin dropped in a career-high 31 points and Teddy Washington, Jr. matched a career-best 28 as Southeast Missouri (20-10, 15-4) dismantled SIU Edwardsville (19-11, 12-7), 83-68, Thursday night at First Community Arena.

With its 10th-straight victory, SEMO clinched its first outright Ohio Valley Conference regular-season title and locked up the #1 seed in the OVC Tournament for the first time in program history.

The Redhawks are on a 10-game winning streak for the first time in 35 years since winning 11 in a row during the 1989-90 season when the program was NCAA Division II.

SEMO picked up its 15th OVC win tying the 1998-99 team (15-3) for the program record in most OVC wins in a season. The Redhawks also secured their first 20-win campaign with Brad Korn as their head coach and third season with 20 or more wins in the school's NCAA Division I history.

The Redhawks led for 37:09 of the contest in yet another dominating 40-minute effort.

SEMO immediately rallied behind the hot shooting of Washington, Jr. and Martin to build a double-digit halftime lead.

The Redhawks used a 9-0 run to and went ahead by double figures for the first time with just over eight minutes remaining in the first half.

Martin buried a jumper and Washington, Jr. followed with a steal and breakaway dunk to put SEMO up, 30-18, with 7:15 left to play.

After SIUE pulled within six (33-27), Washington, Jr. scored eight of SEMO's next nine points. Washington, Jr. nailed a 3-pointer right after Brian Taylor completed a 3-point play.

Washington, Jr. then got a steal and a dunk before Martin split two free throws. Washington, Jr. followed that up with another 3-pointer giving SEMO a 42-27 advantage with 1:23 to play. Washington, Jr.'s eight-point surge came in just 1:33.

SEMO headed into the intermission with a 42-29 lead, marking the fifth-straight game the Redhawks led at the half.

Washington Jr. made four of the Redhawks first seven 3-pointers of the game and led all scorers with 20 points in the first half.

The Redhawks didn't let up in the second half, where they went their fourth game in a row shooting 53.7 percent or better. SEMO shot 58.1 percent (18-of-31) from the field in the game's final 20 minutes.

SEMO led by 15 on two more occasions when David Idada made a layup to make it a 44-29 game, and Braxton Stacker drained a 3-pointer to extend the Redhawks lead to 60-45 (12:55).

Ray'Sean Taylor made a layup, was fouled and added a free throw to narrow SEMO's margin to single digits at 68-59, but Martin answered with back-to-back baskets to grab the Redhawks a 72-59 advantage at the 6:33 mark.

Washington, Jr.'s jumper gave SEMO its largest lead of the night at 83-66 before the Redhawks put their fifth-consecutive road win on ice.

Martin shot 13-of-19 from the field and made two 3-pointers en route to the first 30-point game of his career. He also had three assists and scored double figures for the 15th-straight time.

Washington, Jr. shot 11-of-21 from the field, buried a game-high four threes, pulled down seven rebounds and had a game-high five steals.

As a team, SEMO shot 53.1 percent (34-of-64) for the night and outscored SIUE, 30-12, from 3-point range.

R. Taylor led SIUE with 30 points.

The Redhawks finished February undefeated at 8-0 and improved to 8-6 on the road to get their first winning record in true road games in 25 years.

SEMO closes out its 31-game regular-season slate at Eastern Illinois Saturday.