Big lead turns into big win for SE

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team wasn't winless before Thursday -- it only seemed that way because the Indians hadn't beaten a Division I opponent.

That changed Thursday in a big way at the Show Me Center after a 95-75 Ohio Valley Conference rout of Eastern Kentucky.

The Indians, who bettered their previous season-high point total by 13, improved to 3-11 overall and 1-2 in the OVC. Their previous two wins were over Division II foes. The Colonels, who fell to 3-11 and 0-4, have still not beaten a Division I team this season.

"This feels so good," said Southeast junior center Drew DeMond, who scored a game-high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds. "We played a whole game tonight, just as hard in the second half as we did in the first half."

For Southeast coach Gary Garner, it was a relief to see the Indians win convincingly. They jumped to a big early lead and never let EKU seriously challenge.

That was a far cry from the previous two games, when Southeast led Eastern Illinois by 18 points and Tennessee State by 16 but lost both games.

"I can't tell you how good it feels, and I feel so good for the players," Garner said. "I was pleased with the way we closed it out, to win going away like we did."

The Indians had six players score in double figures. Junior Tim Scheer had 17 points, followed by senior Monte Gordon (14), junior Kenny Johnson (13), junior Demetrius King (10) and freshman Derek Winans (10).

Johnson and Gordon both had five assists while Johnson had six rebounds and Gordon five. Winans led the way with eight rebounds.

Gordon, who comes off the bench, has bolstered Southeast's inside game after returning to the lineup. He was academically ineligible the first semester and missed several games with a racing heart that hampered him much of last season.

After scoring just two points in his first game back, Gordon has 30 in his past three outings. Although not overly tall at 6-feet-5, he is powerful at about 225 pounds.

"Monte is really coming on," Garner said. "He gives us that physical presence inside that we didn't have before."

Gordon is happy to be healthy and contributing.

"I got some new medication and I've been fine since," said Gordon, the Indians' only senior. "I just try to play as hard as I can for as long as I can. It feels good to contribute and to win tonight after we gave away two gifts the last two games."

Southeast never trailed and the Indians went on a 10-0 run after the score was tied 8-8. They led by 22 points late in the first half and went into intermission ahead 46-28.

The Colonels pulled to within 75-63 with a little less than six minutes left, but the Indians scored the next five points and coasted.

The Indians shot 54 percent from the field (27 of 50) and 52.6 percent from 3-point range (10 of 19), led by Scheer's 4-for-6 performance. Southeast also fared well from the free-throw line at 79.5 percent (31 of 38).

EKU, which shot 41.8 percent (28 of 67), was led by Michael Haney with 19 points. Spanky Parks had 17 and Shawn Fields 15.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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