ITTA BENA, Miss. – The Delta Devils of Mississippi Valley State University dropped their first home contest of the 2018-19 basketball season Tuesday, falling 77-57 to Southeast Missouri State.
 
Valley's Dante Scott scored a team-high 19 points for the Delta Devils (2-8), who will play their next home game Jan. 12 to open the second weekend of Southwestern Athletic Conference play.
 
Scott was 6-of-16 from the field against the visiting Redhawks; he also tallied a game-high four steals. Tereke Eckwood scored 10 points for Valley, followed by Emmanuel Ejeh, who came off the MVSU bench to score eight points and pull in eight rebounds.
 
Skyler Hogan led Southeast Missouri State (5-4) with 25 points; he was 5-of-8 from 3-point range.
 
The Redhawks' 3-point shooting made the difference in Tuesday's game. The visitors shot 41 percent (12 of 29) from long range, while Valley only made two 3-pointers out of 15 attempts (13 percent).
 
The Delta Devils were within striking distance in both halves, but the Redhawks managed to pull away each time their lead was threatened. Southeast Missouri State scored the last seven points of the first half to take 33-25 lead into halftime.
 
Midway through the second half, Valley would cut their visitors' lead to 48-41 when Jordan Evans made a pair of free throws, but the Redhawks responded by scoring 12 of the next 16 points to take a 60-45 lead with 7:23 left in the game.
 
The Delta Devils will have a week to prepare for their next contest. Valley travels to Louisiana Tech next Tuesday, with tipoff scheduled for 6:30 p.m.