EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Rob Martin scored 18 points, and #1 Southeast Missouri (21-12) fell to #2 SIU Edwardsville (22-11), 69-48, Saturday night in the Ohio Valley Conference Championship at the Ford Center.
 
SEMO made its second OVC Tournament final appearance in three years under Head Coach Brad Korn.
 
The Redhawks stormed out of the gate with fury behind Martin who settled in to score 10 of his team's first 12 points in the opening 4:19 of the contest.
 
Martin glided in for a layup to score the first basket of the game, knocked down two 3-pointers and then pulled up for a jumper to give the Redhawks a 12-5 lead with 15:41 remaining in the first half.
 
SIUE responded with an 18-4 surge when SEMO fell into a stretch where it did not score for over four minutes. The Redhawks missed 10 of 11 shots and did not make a field goal on six-straight attempts.
 
Meanwhile, the Cougars capitalized and took their first lead of the night (19-16) on a 3-pointer by Brian Taylor with 8:31 left to play.
 
A driving layup by Myles Thompson extended SIUE's lead to double figures at 31-20 at the 1:36 mark before the Cougars headed into the intermission with a 35-24 advantage.
 
Martin exited the game after picking up his second foul with a little over eight minutes left in the first half and was out when SIUE made its big run. 
 
SEMO's defense dug in to force four SIUE turnovers in a quick 2:11 span. Those miscues kicked the Redhawks offense into gear, which in turn, began the second half on a 12-1 run.
 
Brendan Terry keyed the jaunt with five points and scored on a layup to tie the game at 36-36 with 14:47 left.
 
The Redhawks again tied things up when Martin pulled up for a jumper to make it a 38-38 contest.
 
After that, SIUE countered with a 19-2 run to get by the Redhawks for good.
 
The Cougars scored six of their points at the free throw line and Ring Malith made a stepback 3-pointer. Malith later scored a layup, was fouled and converted his 3-point play to push SIUE's lead to 55-40 with 7:23 to go.
 
SIUE outscored SEMO, 31-10, in the last 14:17 of the game.
 
Martin shot 6-of-14 from the field, made three 3-pointers and hit 3-of-4 free throws. He finished the season with double figures in his final 18 starts. Martin made the five-member OVC All-Tournament Team.
 
Terry followed with 16 points and six rebounds as SEMO's other double-digit scorer.
 
OVC Player of the Year Ray'Sean Taylor led all scorers with 20 points and seven rebounds.
 
SIUE outrebounded the Redhawks, 50-31, and held a 40-22 advantage in the paint.
 
SEMO faced SIUE for the third time after beating the Cougars twice during the regular-season. The Redhawks clinched their outright OVC regular-season crown on the road against SIUE on Feb. 27.
 
The Redhawks went 5-1 in their last six OVC Tournament games.