Southeast Missouri State knocks off Little Rock, 78-59, advance to OVC championship game

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EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — Rob Martin had 21 points in top-seeded Southeast Missouri State's 78-59 victory over fourth-seeded Little Rock in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament semifinals Friday.

Southeast Missouri State will play for the conference championship Saturday against the winner of the semifinal between No. 2-seed SIU-Edwardsville and third-seeded Tennessee State.

Martin shot 8 of 15 from the field, including 1 for 4 from 3-point range, and went 4 for 5 from the line for the Redhawks (21-11). Troy Cole Jr. added 17 points while going 6 of 9 from the floor, including 2 for 3 from 3-point range, and 3 for 4 from the line while they also had five rebounds. TJ Biel had 13 points and shot 4 of 4 from the field and 3 for 4 from the line. The Redhawks picked up their 11th straight win.

The Trojans (19-14) were led by Creed Williamson, who posted 20 points. Johnathan Lawson added 11 points for Little Rock. Mwani Wilkinson finished with 10 points and two steals.

Southeast Missouri State took the lead with 10:00 remaining in the first half and never looked back. Cole led their team in scoring with 12 points in the first half to help put them up 40-29 at the break. Southeast Missouri State extended its lead to 69-47 during the second half, fueled by a 13-2 scoring run. Biel scored a team-high 10 points in the second half as their team closed out the win.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.