Cape Girardeau, Mo. -- The Missouri Southern men's basketball team led for a good part of the second half, but an 11-2 second-half run from Southeast Missouri pushed the Redhawks over the Lions 85-77 in exhibition action at the Show Me Center today. 

The Lions got a big night from CJ Carr as the senior was just two assists shy of a triple-double posting 18 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists, to go with two steals. Kinzer Lambert scored 15 on 6-9 shooting, while Koray Gilbert and Enis Memich scored 10 points each. Gilbert added a team-high nine boards. 

Southeast was led by Ray Kowalski with 15 points, while four SEMO players scored in double-figures. 

A three from Lambert with 15:16 left in the first gave the Lions a 14-12 lead and a bucket the next trip down from Lambert pushed the lead to 16-12. SEMO, went on a 12-2 run, however and led 24-18 with 12:27 left in the first half. 

The lead reached ten at 32-22 with 8:53 to go, and was 16 (40-24) with 5:49 left, before the Lions went to work. Southern went on a 14-3 run over the final 5:34 and trailed just 43-42 going into the locker room after a three from Carr with 1:05 left was the last score of the half.

A 12-2 run to start the second half pushed the Lions' lead up to nine (54-45) with 17:22 left, but an 11-2 run from the Redhawks gave SEMO a 57-56 lead with 13:06 left and Southeast never trailed from that moment. 

The lead was as much as 12 with just over a minute to play, but the Lions closed on a 5-0 run for the final tally. 

Southern will open up the regular-season next weekend with games against St. Cloud State on Friday and Minnesota State on Saturday. Those games will be played at Pittsburg State as part of the MIAA/NSIC Challenge.