After leading by five at halftime, the SEMO men’s basketball team fell to the no. 19 Murray State Racers by a score of 70-68 on Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Show Me Center, allowing a 15-2 run in the final five minutes of the game.

At the 25 second mark with the Redhawks down by three points and in need of a basket in their last game of the regular season, Southeast would turn the ball over and send Murray State to the free-throw line.

The Racers would miss a key free-throw, but would foul Phillip Russell as he was taking the ball up the court to force an inbound at half court with three seconds remaining. Chris Harris missed a half-court prayer as the Murray State bench exploded with excitement.

Southeast led by as many as 12 points, but the Racers battled all the way back to regain a 65-64 lead with under three minutes remaining.

Redhawks coach Brad Korn knew the game was well within reach, but a plethora of missed opportunities led to his team’s defeat.

“Opportunities like this don’t come very often, and we had one. [We were] in great position, but didn’t close. You can look at a lot of different things late, but you can’t have a six point swing with under four minutes if you’re going to beat the number 19 team in the nation,” Korn said.

In the span of 15 seconds, the Racers made three free-throws and hit a corner three to erase a six point Redhawk lead.

Senior center Manny Patterson continues to play the best basketball of his career, securing his second double-double of the season with a team-leading 12 points, 10 rebounds, and connecting on his first ever three-point attempt as a Redhawk.

Patterson was frustrated with Saturday’s loss, but said he is proud with the progress his team has made this season.

“It’s frustrating. Just the fact that it was right there,” Patterson said. “We’ve got to learn how to close out games and take care of the ball, but I'm tremendously proud of the guys that have, the coaching staff we have, and the progress we made.”

Patterson has been a key component for the Redhawks this season and has found a groove against the best teams in the OVC. Both of the Chicago native’s registered double-doubles have come against the second place Belmont Bruins, and against the Racers.

In front of an electric Show Me Center crowd, the Redhawks shot 50% from the floor and 40% from three against the best defense in the OVC but were unable to take advantage of the Racers turnovers, only scoring eight points off 11 Racer turnovers compared to Murray’s 22 points off 17 Redhawk turnovers.

With Tennessee State losing their season finale to Belmont, the Redhawks are guaranteed to be seeded fourth in the OVC tournament, their highest seed since they made the NCAA tournament 22 years ago.

Southeast will receive a first round bye and will be back in action on Thursday, Mar. 3, in Evansville, Indiana where they will face the winner of the first round matchup between Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and Tennessee State University. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.