Close games provide Indians hope

Despite losing two road games last week, I could not have been more proud of our basketball team. Our players continue to practice hard and play hard and they continue to play with some good basketball teams.

Tennessee State is really coming on right now and they jumped out on top in last Thursday's game, but our guys battled back and actually took a five-point lead with just over five minutes remaining. As has been our recent history, the Tigers outscored us 22-10 over the final 5:45 to claim a 72-65 victory.

At Tennessee Tech we were facing the unbeaten Ohio Valley Conference leaders, who entered Saturday's contest with a 11-game winning streak and a 22-game home winning streak. We trailed by nine at the half but battled back to get within four with 10:44 to go, but the Golden Eagles pulled away in the final 10 minutes to prevail 82-67.

The OVC's best

Tennessee Tech is by far the best team in the OVC and we were able to play them on even terms for most of the game. We are getting better and closer, but we just haven't been able to get over the hump.

When you're losing, you look for anything to give you a spark and hopefully get you back in the win column. At Tennessee Tech I gave Monte Gordon his first start of the season and started freshman Brett Hale at the point guard position for the first time since Dec. 8. Both Monte and Brett played well.

Monte gives us physical strength offensively and defensively. He had 15 points, five rebounds and two steals in the game.

Brett played well with 14 points at Tennessee State and he came back with 12 at Tennessee Tech. He was deservedly honored as the OVC Rookie of the Week after averaging 13 points per game last week while shooting .526 from the field and .545 from 3-point range.

Freshman inspiring

With Derek Winans winning the OVC Rookie of the Week award four times and Brett winning it two times, we have shown that we have the top freshmen in the league. They are still learning and improving, but they have a bright future and they make our program's future look very good.

We face a key week on the road this week with games at Morehead State Thursday night and Eastern Kentucky Saturday night. We are in a real battle to qualify for the OVC Tournament and we need to start posting some wins. We lost a tough 59-53 decision to Morehead State earlier this year and beat Eastern Kentucky 95-75.

They call this the Death Valley trip, but we have won seven of our last eight games on this trip and that should help give us confidence going into the games.

We should also regain the services of junior Drew DeMond, who has missed the last three games with a sprained knee and ankle. We have missed Drew's rebounding and shot blocking. He makes us a better team and his return should give us an added spark.

I am proud and a little surprised that our team has hung together so well despite mounting losses. They need a reward for their great effort and the only reward is winning. Hopefully they can find the reward this week before we come back to the Show Me Center for three straight games that are all winnable for us.

Gary Garner is the basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University