Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

Southeast Missouri opened the game with a 12-1 run on Saturday afternoon at Groniger Arena and Eastern Illinois could never overcome the Redhawks early surge as the Panthers lost 77-59.
 
EIU had three players score in double figures led by Markus Blackwell with 16 points off the bench including 4-of-6 from 3-point range as the freshman led EIU's offense.
 
Meechie White scored 15 points followed by Zion Fruster with 10 to round out the Panthers double digit scorers as EIU fell to 9-14 overall, 5-7 in the OVC.
 
EIU cut the lead to 16-11 on Blackwell's first 3-pointer of the day with 9:11 to play in the first.
 
SEMO quickly answered with a Brendan Terry 3-pointer to push the lead back to eight.  Terry led the Redhawks with 22 points as SEMO knocked down 11 3-pointers.
 
The Redhawks led by 13 at the half, 37-24, shooting 50 percent from the field in both halves.
 
The Panthers trimmed the lead down to eight twice in the second half, the last time on a White runner in the lane with 16:21 to play in the game.
 
Terry answered again for SEMO and the Redhawks never led the lead dip below ten the rest of the game improving to 13-10 overall, 8-4 in the OVC.
 
Braxton Stacker (17) and Luke Almodovar (13) joined Terry in double figures for the Panthers.
 
Nazareth Fisher pulled down eight rebounds for EIU playing in foul trouble a large portion of the game.