Box Score UNO-SEMO Box Score
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri State connected on five of their first six three-point attempts in the second half to pull away from New Orleans in a 94-71 victory on Wednesday night at the Show Me Center.
Leading by three points coming out of the halftime break, SEMO (7-6) guard Corey Wilford made three three-pointers in the first four minutes of the second half during a spurt in which the Redhawks built the game's first significant advantage.
SEMO shot 10 of 25 from beyond the arc in the game, which included five three-pointers by Wilford, who notched a game-high with 18 points. Three others reached double figures with Redhawks' guard Lucas Nutt dishing out 10 assists for the hosts.
UNO (3-7) battled SEMO to a 34-34 tie on the glass. The Privateers had the edge on the glass for a majority of the game, a turnaround from the previous meeting on Nov. 29 between the teams, a rebounding battle that went to SEMO 43-29.
Five different players had at least four rebounds for UNO, including
Rarlensee Nelson, who grabbed six rebounds to establish a career-high for a second straight game.
Kevin Hill added five rebounds.
Privateer forward
Eddie Denard established a career-high with 11 points in the contest.
Cory Dixon and
Corey Blake had 13 and 12 points, respectively.
The first half was a back-and-forth affair as the teams swapped leads on 11 occasions with five ties.
UNO would be in the driver's seat early, scoring the first four points and 6 of 8. Following a three-point play by Blake, the Privateers took a 13-7 lead with 14:37 remaining in the opening half. The advantage would be the guests' largest of the half.
The Redhawks responded, embarking on an 11-1 run to swing the momentum in their favor, later grabbing a six-point edge of their own with 8:32 left before the break.
The teams would trade leads several more times with SEMO scoring the final four points of the half to take a 42-39 advantage into the half.
SEMO's run continued in the second half as they scored the first five points. Three-pointers on consecutive possessions by Wilford extended the Redhawks' advantage to 53-43 with 17:10 left in the contest.
UNO cut the deficit back to single digits by producing a 5-0 run before SEMO rolled off seven straight points of their own to put their lead back in double-digits, where it would remain for the rest of the contest.
The Redhawks' largest advantage of the game was the final result as the hosts closed out the game with a three-point play with six seconds remaining.
The Privateers will head to Las Vegas this weekend for the MGM Grand Arena Holiday Classic hosted by the Pac-12 Conference. A two-day, four-game event will include a showdown between UNO and Boise State on Sunday at 3 p.m. CT.
NOTES
Rarlensee Nelson had six assists without a single turnover. One of the nation's leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio, Nelson last had no turnovers with a 10-assist, 0-turnover performance at Duquesne on Dec. 8.
The UNO bench outscored their Redhawk counterparts by a 34-28 score, improving to 8-1-1 on the season. The Privateer reserves were held to a season-low seven points against SIU on Monday, their first setback. In the first half alone, UNO's bench scored 19 points.
Prior to Wednesday's contest, the last time the Privateers either outrebounded or tied an opponent on the boards was a 63-35 advantage on the glass on Nov. 20 against Blue Mountain College.
