Central STL News

#5 Southeast Missouri (18-16) outscored #1 Morehead State (21-11) 20-7 in the final 8:43 to pull off a stunning 65-58 win Friday night in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament semifinals.
 
SEMO, which has won three games in three days, heads to its first OVC Tournament Championship matchup in 23 years. The Redhawks last appeared in the OVC Tournament title game in 1999-2000, the year SEMO won its only crown and made its only NCAA Tournament to date.
 
Down, 51-45, the Redhawks used a 12-0 run to grab their first lead of the night.
 
After Israel Barnes splashed in a 3-pointer to make it a one-point game (51-50), Dylan Branson was fouled and made two free throws to put SEMO up, 52-51, with 4:45 remaining.  
Josh Earley followed that up with a layup to push the lead to 54-51 ahead of the game's final media timeout at the 3:44 mark.
 
Russell later added two free throws to widen the Redhawks margin to 61-53 with 1:12 on the clock.
 
Drew Thelwell answered with a 3-pointer and Jake Wolfe was fouled and made two free throws to make it a 61-58 game with 50 seconds to go.
 
On SEMO's next possession, Russell drilled a stepback 3-pointer with 21 seconds to bury MSU for good.
 
The Redhawks outscored the Eagles, 36-24, in the second half to polish off their massive come-from-behind victory. SEMO, after turning the ball over nine times in the first half, committed just two in the final 20 minutes and that was huge in the end.
 
SEMO trailed by 11 multiple times in the first half and got within five (34-29) at the intermission.  
Chris Harris led four Redhawks in double figures with 15 points and seven rebounds. Earley registered a double-double 11 points and 13 rebounds in 23 minutes off the bench. Russell contributed 14 points and Barnes finished with 10. Russell is now 20 points away from getting 1,000 in his career.
 
SEMO outrebounded the Eagles, 41-33, for the game and shot 48 percent (13-of-27) in the second half.
 
OVC Player of the Year Mark Freeman led MSU with a game-high 21 points.
 
At one time, MSU was scoreless for over six minutes late in the second half.
 
SEMO upended a #1 seed for just the second time in program history. The Redhawks, then-seeded #2 the year they last won the tournament in 2000, knocked off #1 Murray State in the title game.

The Redhawks are the first #5 seed to make the OVC Tournament title game since 2005 (Austin Peay).
 
The Redhawks will face the winner of #2 Tennessee Tech and #3 UT Martin on ESPN2 Saturday at 7 p.m., CT. 

Original source can be found here.