SE Missouri St. advances, beats E. Illinois 79-61

Mar 5, 2015, 11:49 pm

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tyler Stone scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and sixth-seeded Southeast Missouri State beat seventh-seeded Eastern Illinois 79-61 in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament on Wednesday night.

Stone hit 11 of 17 field goals as the Redhawks (18-13) shot 50 percent from the field and 8 of 14 from 3-point range. Antonius Cleveland added 15 points for Southeast Missouri State while Nino Johnson had 12, Darrian Gray scored 10 and Lucas Nutt finished with 10 assists.

Southeast Missouri State built a 39-27 halftime lead and led by as many as 22 in the second half en route to its fifth straight win.

Sherman Blanford led Eastern Illinois with 22 points and Chris Olivier added 19 but the Panthers shot just 37.3 percent from the field.

The Redhawks advance to play third-seeded Eastern Kentucky in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.