COLLEGE BASKETBALL: INDIANS SOLVE SALUKIS

For all that Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team has accomplished over the past few seasons, one order of unfinished business kept gnawing at the Indians -- a failure to measure up against regional rival Southern Illinois.

In three previous years under coach Gary Garner, the Indians had lost three times to the Salukis by an average of 17 points. All told, Southeast had dropped seven straight against SIU and had not beaten the Salukis since 1982-83, after which the series was discontinued for more than a decade.

But the losing streak against the Carbondale squad is no longer. The Indians, playing SIU at home for the first time in Garner's tenure, built a 12-point halftime lead, fell behind briefly in the second half before regaining control and then held off the Salukis 87-84 Tuesday night in front of 5,773 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 5-2 while SIU fell to 3-2.

"We got the Murray State monkey off our back (last year), we finally won the (Ohio Valley) conference tournament and made the NCAA playoffs (also last year)," said Garner. "Now we got this monkey off our back.

"I hope I would have said this even if we had lost, but it was a great basketball game, what college basketball is all about. Southern Illinois is very talented and extremely well coached. To beat a team like that is really big for us."

Largely responsible for the victory was the Indians' four-headed senior backcourt, which accounted for 75 of Southeast's 87 points and helped the Indians hit 12 of 22 3-pointer attempts.

Emmanual McCuthison, who is listed as a small forward but basically plays a third guard spot on the floor, pumped in a career-high 29 points, including 20 in the first half. He hit six of nine 3-pointers, including four of five in the opening 20 minutes.

"It was falling for me and all I know is to keep shooting if it's falling," said McCuthison, who has scored in double figures in all seven games this year. "This one feels real good. We knew we had to step up the intensity and we did."

Point guard Michael Stokes scored 19 points, hitting five of six from the field and nine of 14 from the free-throw line.

"This is a big win for us," said Stokes. "Tonight we showed our character."

Two-guard Antonio Short added 14 points, hitting two of three 3-pointers and six of seven foul shot. Short's backup, Amory Sanders, had 13 points as he hit four of seven 3-pointers.

"We played horrible at Carbondale last year (losing 62-51) and we were pumped up," Sanders said. "It was a big game for the coaches and for us. We knew we'd have to play really well to beat a good team like SIU."

Kent Williams, SIU's standout sophomore guard, paced the Salukis with 27 points as he hit six of 10 3-pointers. Tyrese Buie added 12 points and Abel Schrader had 11.

After an extremely tight first 10 minutes of the opening half, the Indians began to pull away and they scored the final eight points of the period -- getting 3-pointers from McCuthison and Short and a tip-in by Monte Gordon -- to lead 54-42 at the break.

Garner, however, figured the advantage wouldn't last.

"You know that's not going to last. We're not going to blow Southern Illinois out.," he said. "Then it would be a matter of toughness and character."

Garner had to like what the Indians showed him in those two areas. As he expected, the Salukis stormed back, ultimately taking their only lead of the second half on a pair of Williams free throws that made it 68-67 with just under nine minutes to play.

McCuthison came right back with a 3-pointer to put Southeast up 70-68. SIU managed to tie the contest twice down the stretch, at 73-73 and 75-75, the latter with just over three minutes left.

Again McCuthison came through with a driving shot from in close at the 2:55 mark that put the Indians ahead to stay at 77-75.

Southeast led 86-81 after two free throws by Short with 13 seconds left. Williams answered with a 3-pointer that made it 86-84 with seven seconds remaining. When Stokes made one of two foul shots with five seconds left, the Salukis still had a chance to force overtime, but Williams missed a 25-footer just before the buzzer and time expired in the scramble for the rebound.

"They have good guards and they got going," said SIU coach Bruce Weber. "Down the stretch, they made the plays and we didn't."

The Indians, even though they continued to struggle on the boards -- SIU held a 44-33 rebounding edge -- for a change had a big advantage from the free-throw line, although they weren't all that accurate. Southeast made 29 of 44 foul shots to 17 of 27 for SIU.

"We have emphasized getting to the free-throw line and not fouling so much," Garner said. "One of our big goals tonight was not to put them on the line and to get to the line. I told the players if we did that, we'd win."

Garner was right -- and the SIU monkey is now off the Indians' backs.