CARBONDALE, Ill. -- Apart from the Southeast Missouri State men's basketball team's season-opening loss to Dayton, the Redhawks have been competitive up until halftime and early after the break. The same held true for Southeast on Wednesday night against rival Southern Illinois at SIU Arena.

It wasn't the only trend that stuck.

The Redhawks faced a five-point deficit after the first 20 minutes of the game; they once again couldn't overcome that, allowing the gap to balloon to a 74-50 loss for their sixth straight defeat to start the season.

"It was a five-point game at halftime, and we just kind of rolled over and got hit by a train," Southeast redshirt junior forward Trey Kellum said.

The Redhawks were down 32-27 at the break, which was a fortunate spot to be in after committing 15 first-half turnovers. However, SIU shot just 15.4 percent from 3-point range in the opening half, knocking down only two attempts from beyond the arc. The Salukis also didn't attempt a free throw in the first half.

"I thought our defense that we displayed in the first half, besides the turnovers, [was impressive]," coach Rick Ray said. "I felt like, 'It's amazing, fellas, that you're in this game with 15 turnovers in the first half,' and so that's kind of a testament to what we did defensively.

"If you eliminate the points that they got in transition off our turnovers, I think their field goal percentage is really, really low. We've got to continue to build on those things, but there comes a point in time in every single game for us where we've got to get over that mental hump and not give in."

Southeast junior forward Joel Angus III scored the first four points of the second half to cut it to 32-31 just 1:17 into the second half.

The Salukis pushed their lead to the largest at the time at 38-31, but a dunk by sophomore Ladarius Coleman and a layup by junior guard Antonius Cleveland in the waning seconds of the shot clock pulled the Redhawks back to within three in the next two possessions, with 15:03 remaining.

The Redhawks never got any closer after SIU's Tyler Smithpeters drained a 3-pointer on the Salukis' ensuing possession to make it 41-35.

After Cleveland's basket, Southeast was held without a field goal until Vellum knocked down a baseline jumper with 8:16 to go and the Redhawks trailing by double figures.

"I think we kind of get outside of ourselves, and what I mean by that is, like, taking unnecessary shots and attempts, trying to force the issue," Ray said. " *... We've got to start accepting what our limitations are as a basketball player so we can move forward as a team."

During that seven-minute stretch without a field goal by Southeast -- the Redhawks did hit three free throws in that span -- the Salukis made their first six free-throw attempts of the game to push their lead to double-digits at 49-37 with 10:31 left. Southeast never got any closer.

"Once it hit double digits I felt like everybody put their head down, and we've got to be better than that because there's still time on the clock," said Coleman, who finished with a team-high 10 points and four rebounds, and was 4 for 4 from the free-throw line.

"I don't know why we gave up, but I feel like that's what happened," Coleman said. "We've got to fight until the end. It's never over until the horn."

Freshman guard Eric McGill echoed a statement he'd heard from Ray: the team isn't mentally tough.

McGill said the lack of mental toughness is evident in the team missing open shots, among other things. The Redhawks shot 34.5 percent from the floor and were 3 of 15 from beyond the arc. They were 9 of 15 from the free-throw line.

"I see it in rebounds, in 50-50 balls," McGill said. "I see it when the other team goes on a run [and] we just lay down. We're not mentally tough enough."

Southeast was capable of warding off a major deficit in the first half, which Ray credited his team for sticking to the game plan.

The Redhawks jumped out to a 5-0 lead to start the game, but the Salukis responded with a 9-2 run to take their first lead at 9-7 with 13:02 left in the first half.

The game was tied twice after that, and the lead changed four more times. SIU's 32-27 edge was the largest of the first half.

"We gave ourselves a chance, but we just don't fight back. That's what it all comes back to," McGill said.

Southeast finished the game with a season-high 21 turnovers and the Salukis scored 19 points off the Redhawks' errors and 16 in the fast break.

"I always tell our guys, 'I don't care what defense you're in. You can't run down turnovers and be successful defensively,'" Ray said. "I think that's the biggest thing is those guys getting in transition. It really didn't happen because they got a defensive rebound and busted it out. It's because we were running them down off of turnovers."

SIU forward Sean O'Brien led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting. He posted his third consecutive double-double with 11 rebounds.

"I thought he's one of the most active players that I've seen on tape this year, so we knew that he would be really good in the middle of our zone, in the short corners, in the high post, diving, getting to some loose balls or making some effort plays at the rim," Ray said. "We were very aware of that, but I just thought we did a poor job of putting a body on him once we got into our zone."

Guard Anthony Beane had 16 points and seven rebounds on 5-of-13 shooting. Forward Austin Weiher and guard Mike Rodriguez finished with 10 apiece for the Salukis, who shot 44.8 percent from the floor and were 5 of 27 from beyond the arc. They knocked down 9 of 11 free-throw attempts, all in the second half.

Coleman was the only Redhawk to score in double figures. Cleveland and Kellum each had nine. Cleveland also had six rebounds.

Southeast dropped to 0-6 with the loss.

"Mental toughness and just having that swagger that we're going to win the game," Kellum said of what's lacking. "As of right now our confidence isn't as high as it [needs] to be."

The Redhawks travel to Memphis to face the Tigers on Saturday night. Tip-off from the FedExForum is set for 6 p.m.

"We've got to find that glue, like who's going to keep the team together, who's going to be the leader, who's going to make sure everybody stays levelheaded," Coleman said. "We're so young, but at the same time somebody's got to go ahead and be that man, so it's just finding that."