SEMO’s men's basketball defeated the Tennessee State Tigers 92-75 on January 26 after they trailed the Tigers 17-1 early in the first half.

Although the Redhawks fell behind early, sophomore guard Aquan Smart said SEMO remained confident they would come back to get the victory.

“The whole game we just knew we were gonna win. Even when we went down 17-1 we always kept faith that we were gonna win,” Smart said.

Smart finished the game with 14 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. Head coach Brad Korn said Smart’s performance over the previous two games has stood out to him.

“I thought these last two games have been his most consistent,” Korn said. “It's been nice to see it because he puts in the work, and now he's actually seeing it in production on the court.”

Sophomore guard Phillip Russell was the other standout performer. After a rough game against Tennessee Tech, Russell scored 30 points along with 9 assists. Russell said another game back from injury was key for his improved performance.

“Last game was my first game back off of injury, and I had to get my groove back,” Russell said.

Coach Korn said with Russell, standout performances can seem almost routine.

“You kind of somewhat just forget about him, in the sense that he's such a good player, and he does a lot of things for us,” Korn said.

With the win over Tennessee State, SEMO remains in a five-way tie for first place atop the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC). Junior forward Josh Earley said that staying at the top of the standings remains the goal going forward.

“Our goal from summer workouts was to win the OVC, and to this day I still think we can,” Earley said. “If we play hard like we do for 40 minutes, I don’t think there’s a team that can withstand us.”

The Redhawks have a trip to Eastern Illinois on Saturday before they return home at 7pm on Thursday, February 2 for a matchup with Little Rock at the Show Me Center.