Southern Illinois basketball’s strong performance at the end of the first half allowed them to emerge victorious from their match up against the SEMO Redhawks (3-9).

The Salukis now lead the Redhawks 8-3 in the all-time series. 

The Redhawks started off with the first basket with sophomore guard Alex Caldwell sinking a three to give SEMO a 3-0 lead.

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The Redhawks shooting was off to a fast start as they sunk three of their first four baskets giving them an 8-2 lead over the Salukis with just under 18:00 left in the first half.

Southeast Missouri State would have a 10-2 lead with 15:40 continuing their hot shooting while also keeping the Salukis away from the basket on defense.

The Salukis made it a five point game 12-7 with senior Eric Mcgill hitting a three pointer with 12:21 left in the first half.

Southern then took its first lead of the game as graduate student Barret Benson would make a clutch basket with just over 10:00 left in the first half.

From there SIU went on a 14-2 scoring run to take the lead 16-12 as sophomore guard Harwin Francois made a three with under 10 minutes left to play before halftime. 

The Salukis would continue their scoring run as they took a 22-12 keeping SEMO scoreless for nearly seven minutes. 

Southern Illinois continued to attack the basket to extend their run to 24-0. 

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Southeast Missouri State broke their drought as senior guard Skyler Hogan would make it a 28-14 lead for the Salukis with 3:03 left in the first half. 

The Salukis led 32-20 at halftime. 

The leading scorer at half for the Redhawks was Hogan with seven points.

Leading the way for the Southern at halftime were Domask and Mcgill with eight points each. 

Missouri State was the first to score in the second half as Hogan drained a basket to cut the Saluki lead down to 10 points at 32-22.

Southern Illinois extended their lead to 42-25 with a basket from freshman guard Karrington Davis.

The Salukis took their biggest lead of the game at 45-25 on a basket by Davis with 9:33 left in the game.

A slam dunk from Domask pushed the Saluki lead to 20 points. 

Southern closed out the game earning a 64-45 victory. 

This was the Salukis last game before Christmas. 

The next game will kick off Valley play for SIU and it is scheduled for Dec. 30 at 7 p.m. The Salukis (6-7) will be facing off against the Indiana State University Sycamores. 

Sports reporter Zach Kramer can be reached at [email protected].

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