AILING TRIBE BOMBS EAGLES; SOUTHEAST ARSENAL STILL POTENT IN 99-79 VICTORY

With their inside game somewhat depleted by injuries, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians turned to the outside to pick up a much-needed victory Thursday night.

The Indians bombed home 13 3-pointers -- in 24 attempts -- and also did plenty of damage from closer to the basket as they crushed Morehead State 99-79 in front of 4,414 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast, in breaking a three-game losing streak, improved to 9-10 overall and 5-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The fifth-place Indians are just one-half game behind Austin Peay in the all-important battle for fourth place in the league (the top four teams secure a first-round OVC Tournament home game).

MSU fell to 3-16 overall and 2-9 in OVC play, tied for last in the 10-team conference.

"We shot the ball well, and when you shoot it well, that really picks you up in a lot of areas," said Southeast coach Gary Garner, who added with a laugh, "I'm the shooting coach this week.

The Indians were playing their first game without 6-foot-10 center Bud Eley and 6-4 forward Demetrius Watson, who were averaging a combined 25 points and 12 rebounds per game.

Eley is out for the rest of the season with a broken foot while Watson will miss at least a couple of weeks with a broken toe.

But, on this night at least, the Indians hardly appeared to miss their wounded warriors. They pretty well had their way with the struggling Eagles, who stayed close for the first 13 minutes but eventually were run out of the Show Me Center.

"Without Bud and Demetrius, this really could have been a tough game for us," said Garner. "That's why I'm really pleased. We played with a lot of enthusiasm and really got after it. And we really needed this one."

The Indians shot 56 percent overall from the field (30 of 54) and 54 percent from 3-point range. They also sizzled from the free-throw line by shooting 84 percent (26 of 31).

A host of players shared the wealth for the Indians. Ten players dressed out, nine of them played at least 13 minutes, all 10 scored and nine of them scored at least four points.

"I thought we got very good contributions from everybody," Garner said.

Cory Johnson led the way with 20 points as he hit four of seven 3-pointers.

Next in line was freshman Nathan Owen, the former Cape Central High all-stater who made his first career start and scored 16 points as he hit three of five 3-pointers.

Owen, normally a guard, started at forward in place of White, but Owen was still able to roam the perimeter. He got off to a slow start but then caught fire in the second half, when he scored all of his 16 points, which established a career high.

"Nathan started off slow, but he really came on and that's the sign of a good competitor," said Garner.

Calvert White and David Montgomery both scored 12 points. Most of Montgomery's came inside while White drained both of his 3-pointer attempts. White also had seven assists to lead the team.

Point guard Kahn Cotton had a big all-around game with 12 points, six assists and just one turnover. Cotton hit two of his 3-point tries.

"Kahn probably had the best game of any of our players," said Garner. "He had a great floor game and he played tremendous defense."

Southeast's bench contributed a solid 25 points, led by freshman walk-on Matt Morris with seven.

"Matt played really well," Garner said. "He knows how to play and he's a really good shooter."

Travis Smith and Dewayne Saulsberry both had five points, Lakeo Keller contributed four points and four assists and walk-on William "Chief" Lucas, seeing his first action in a while after missing several games with an ankle injury, got in on the fun with two late points.

"Everybody played and everybody scored, which is something you really like to see," said Garner.

MSU, which also had five players in double figures, was led by Thomas Jenkins with 13 points.

After a close first 13 minutes, Southeast took the lead for good on a Johnson 3-pointer that made it 24-21 with 6:56 left in the opening half.

The Indians led 41-31 at halftime and stretched their advantage out to as many as 25 points in the second half.

It got so bad for the Eagles that first-year coach Kyle Macy was ejected with 4:12 left in the game after being hit with two technical fouls.

"At least I'm not the only coach in the league that can get thrown out," said a smiling Garner, referring to his being tossed at Murray State a couple of weeks ago.

It was that kind of fun night for the Indians, who will look to get back to the .500 mark -- both overall and in OVC play -- Saturday when Eastern Kentucky comes to the Show Me Center for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff.