Redhawks Drop Regular-Season Finale at Eastern Illinois, 73-58 - Southeast Missouri State University Athletics

Saturday, March 1

Charleston, Ill.

3:30 PM

Southeast Missouri State University

20-11,15-5OVC

Eastern Illinois

12-19,8-12OVC

Team	1	2	F
Southeast Mo. St.	32	26	58
Eastern Ill.	36	37	73

Final Statistics

3/1/2025 6:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Final Statistics

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Southeast Missouri (20-11, 15-5) committed a season-high 19 turnovers and Eastern Illinois (11-19, 7-12) used a 19-5 run in the final 5:05 to pull off a stunning 73-58 victory on the final day of the regular-season Saturday.

EIU put a stop to SEMO's NCAA Division I era record 10-game winning streak giving the Redhawks their first loss since they dropped a 72-68 decision at Lindenwood on Jan. 23.

Down, 47-37, with 14:46 left in the game, SEMO put together a 12-3 run to get within a point.

Rob Martin kickstarted the surge with a 3-pointer and Braxton Stacker threw down a dunk to make it a two-possession game.

Damarion Walkup came off the bench and drained a 3-pointer and Brendan Terry scored the next four points after that, including an open dunk off a nice pass from Teddy Washington, Jr. that dropped EIU's lead to 50-49 with 8:32 left.

Stacker then drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game at 52-52 at the 7:02 mark.

Nakyel Shelton, however, regained a two-point edge for EIU and Martin split to free throws to trim the Panthers lead to 54-53 with a little over five minutes on the clock.

It was all EIU after that as the Panthers scored 19 of the game's last 24 points to pull away for good.

EIU forced SEMO into committing an uncharacteristic 13 turnovers in the first half, its most in an opening stanza this season.

Tied, 13-13, the Panthers went on a 12-4 run to get an eight-point lead.

Shelton got open for a dunk and Malik Olafioye followed with a 3-pointer. Shelton buried a 3-pointer, Olafioye sunk two free throws, and Artese Stapleton made a layup to extend EIU's lead to 25-17 with 7:39 remaining in the first half.

Stapleton knocked down two free throws to give the Panthers a 10-point lead at 33-23 with 3:19 left to play.

SEMO countered by scoring nine of the next 10 points to get within two. Martin scored seven in a row and buried a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions. His pullup 3-pointer at the top of the arc resulted in a 4-point play before Stacker followed with two free throws to cut EIU's lead to 34-32 with 31 seconds to go.

Shelton scored the final points of the half on two free throws giving the Panthers a 36-32 cushion at the intermission.

SEMO was charged with 13 fouls in the first half with starters Teddy Washington, Jr. (3), Brendan Terry (2) and BJ Ward (2) picking up at least two apiece.

EIU figured in a +8 (13-5) advantage at the free throw line into its lead during the opening 20 minutes of play.

Martin and Stacker led SEMO with 18 and 12 points, respectively. Martin stretched his streak to 16-straight games with double figures in the scoring column.

Washington, Jr. had nine points, while Terry finished with seven points and nine rebounds.

Shelton had a game-high 28 points and Stapleton contributed 22 to lead EIU.

The Panthers wound up outscoring the Redhawks, 20-11, at the free throw line and scored 19 of their points off SEMO's turnovers.

Top-seeded SEMO will open postseason play in the semifinals of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament on Friday, Mar. 7 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana.

This year's eight-team field includes #1 SEMO, #2 SIU Edwardsville, #3 Tennessee State, #4 Little Rock, #5 Tennessee Tech, #6 Lindenwood, #7 Morehead State and #8 UT Martin.