In what was a game largely dominated by the Southeast Missouri State Redhawks, the Missouri Tigers were able to pull out a narrow victory with a score of 65-61.
The Tigers trailed for all but six seconds of the first half, and went into the locker rooms with the score favoring the Redhawks 30-24.
However, in the second half, Mizzou was all business outscoring the Redhawks 41-31. Although the Tigers played much better in the second half, they were not able to grab a lead in the game until there was 3:55 left in the contest.
SEMO was able to keep it close though, as towards the end of the game the Tigers continually tried to pull away but twice the Redhawks were able to hit 3-pointers to keep the game close.
The Tigers were able to finally put SEMO away with two clutch free throws by Tramaine Isabell with 7 seconds left in the game.
Johnathan Williams III finished the game with 18 points and 11 rebounds for a solid double-double that helped lead Mizzou to victory.
Both Montaque Gill-Caesar and Keith Shamburger had good games for the Tigers putting up 15 and 11 points respectively, but their performances were overshadowed by Williams’ output.
Mizzou will now look ahead to their matchup against the Oklahoma Sooners Friday night at 8:30 as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.