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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Tyler Laser scored 22 points Saturday night as Eastern Illinois (11-11, 8-4 OVC) battled back from an early deficit to outlast Southeast Missouri (3-21, 0-13 OVC) at Lantz Arena. EIU won 70-62 to sweep the season series over the Redhawks.

Kenard Moore had the hot hand for SEMO scoring 24 points on 6-of-13 shooting from 3-point range. Moore had 13 points in the first half as SEMO held a 34-32 halftime lead. The Redhawks led by as many as ten points in the opening half as Jaycen Herring converted at the free throw line at the 5:28 mark to put them up 29-19. SEMO shot 54 percent in the half.

Laser scored ten of his 22 in the first half hitting on 2-of-6 from 3-point range. EIU closed the second half with a 13-3 run that tied the game at 32-32 with 28 seconds left as Edin Suljic hit a jumper in the lane. Bijon Jones hit a runner for SEMO with four seconds left and Laser's half court heave bounced off the back of the rim as the clock expired.

Following a Moore jumper at 18:54 that gave SEMO a 36-34 lead, EIU ran off eight straight points with Ousmane Cisse tying the game at 36-36 and Romain Martin giving EIU a lead they would never surrender. Martin finished with ten points as he now needs 11 points to reach 1,000 for his career.

The Panthers stretched the lead to as high 11 points as Martin drained a 3-pointer to push EIU's advantage to 56-45 with 4:57 remaining. Moore would hit a couple of 3's for SEMO in the waning minutes as they traded 3-point attempts for EIU foul shots. Laser would go 6-for-6 at the stripe to end the game with a 36 straight free throw streak intact.

EIU returns to action quickly as they host Murray State at 7 p.m. on Monday night.

Cisse and Billy Parrish each had eight rebounds for EIU. Jajuan Maxwell had a double-double for SEMO with 15 points and 10 rebounds. LaMont Russell also had 10 rebounds for SEMO despite EIU winning the battle on the boards 35-30.