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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois led by five at the half but scored only eight points in the opening 13:30 of the second half as Southeast Missouri rallied to pick up a 74-53 win over the Panthers in Lantz Arena on Monday night.

EIU was limited to 24 percent shooting in the second half as they dropped to 9-12 overall, 2-7 in the OVC.  The Panthers return to action on Thursday hosting Eastern Kentucky at 7 p.m.

SEMO shot 52 percent from the game as they improved to 12-9, 7-2 in the OVC.

EIU took advantage of ten SEMO first half turnovers as the Panthers built at 36-31 halftime lead.  Jeremy Granger scored nine of his 14 points in the opening half. 

SEMO built a 14-8 lead behind a couple of 3-pointers by Marland Smith as he looked to be starting a repeat performance of his game on Jan. 14 in Cape Girardeau, Mo., when he knocked down seven first half 3-pointers against the Panthers.  Smith finished the game with 19 points, 5-of-10 from beyond the arc.

Granger brought the Panthers to a tie at 21-21 at the 9:48 mark of the first.  L.C. Doss knocked down a 3-pointer with 2:49 left as EIU closed the half on a 9-2 run.  Morris Woods, Zavier Sanders and Alfonzo McKinnie all had buckets in the run.

Sanders continued his scoring with a jumper in the first minute of the second half before the Panthers went ice cold from the field.  SEMO had a quick 13-2 run before Joey Miller and Sanders scored to make it a 44-42 SEMO lead with 14:45 left to play.

The Redhawks then went inside to Tyler Stone and Leon Powell as they broke open the game with a 24-0 run over nine minutes.  Stone had a double-double with 18 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.  Powell added 12 points as four Redhawks finished in double figures. 

EIU was beat on the glass by a 42-25 margin marking the third straight game that the Panthers have been out rebounded by double digits.  EIU has now lost six straight games.