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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Senior Mike Rose swished a three-pointer right before the buzzer sounded to give the Eastern Kentucky University men's basketball team an exciting 74-71 victory at Southeast Missouri Saturday night in the Show-Me Center. The Colonels improve to 10-8 overall and 4-4 in the OVC while the Redhawks fall to 3-16 and 0-8.

Rose led four Colonels in double figures with 19 points. Sophomore Justin Stommes equaled his season high with 17 points while junior Robin Mestdagh came off the bench to tally a career-best 13 points. Meanwhile, junior Papa Oppong chipped in with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

For Southeast Missouri, Jaycen Herring recorded a season-high 25 points. Calvin Williams came off the bench and finished one point shy of a double-double with 14 points and nine boards.

Eastern Kentucky came out of the gates on fire and scored the first 12 points of the contest. EKU built its biggest advantage of the game following a Mike Lewis lay-up to make the score, 33-16.

However, the Redhawks rallied with nine straight points to slice the deficit to eight, 33-25. Following Mestdagh’s third three-pointer of the opening frame, Southeast Missouri put together another run to end the half. The Redhawks scored 10 of the final 13 points in the stanza to trail by just four, 39-35, heading into intermission.

The Colonels kept SEMO at bay early in the second half, but a Williams dunk at 10:14 gave the home team its first lead of the contest, 51-50. The game stayed close the rest of the way with a Williams lay-in giving Southeast Missouri a 62-60 edge with 4:04 left.

From there, Stommes responded with his third three-pointer to put EKU back on top, 63-62. A Rose three-pointer and back-door lay-up then stretched the Colonel advantage to six, 68-62. Oppong finished the 10-0 run with a pair of free throws with 2:10 remaining, giving Eastern a seemingly comfortable 70-62 lead.

Kenard Moore’s long three-pointer on Southeast Missouri ensuing possession kept the home team in the game, 70-65. After an EKU miss, Herring connected on a lay-up to bring SEMO back to within three points with 1:15 left, 70-67. Two free throws by Moore with 33 ticks left then made the score 71-69.

Following an Eastern Kentucky miss at the free throw line with 26 seconds left, Southeast Missouri had a chance to tie the game. Herring pulled up for a jumper with nine seconds left and missed, but grabbed his own rebound. He then connected on a put-back with 3.5 seconds left to even the score at 71-all.

The Colonels called time out to set up their final play. Stommes inbounded the ball to Taylor at half court who then immediately tossed the ball to Rose in the right corner. Rose finished the play by netting the three-pointer right before the horn sounded to give Eastern its first OVC road win of the year.

The Colonels continue their four-game road swing Tuesday at non-conference foe Chicago State. Game time is set for 8 p.m.