COLLEGE BASKETBALL; INDIANS: THAT'S MORE LIKE IT; SE SQUAD REBOUNDS FROM LOSS, CRUSHES ROBERT MORRIS 78-53

KANSAS CITY -- What a difference a day -- and an opponent -- made for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team.

Friday, the Indians struggled all game offensively during a 16-point loss to tough Toledo in the first round of the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament.

But the Indians, displaying considerable more energy, bounced back Saturday afternoon to hammer winless Robert Morris 78-53 in the consolation semifinals of the eight-team tourney that is being hosted by Missouri-Kansas City.

Southeast (3-1) will play Cleveland State at 1 p.m. today in the fifth-place game.

"I was very pleased with the players, with their character," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "They really came out ready to play. Sometimes that's not easy to do in consolation games."

While acknowledging that Robert Morris is definitely not even close to the level of Toledo, especially defensively, Garner liked the way the Indians executed on offense against the Colonials.

"You always feel better when you win, no matter how you played," Garner said. "But I thought we played a lot more aggressive offensively. We were just so sluggish Friday. Today we were moving a lot better."

And shooting a lot better. Against Toledo, the Indians hit just under 33 percent of their field-goal attempts. Saturday, Southeast shot 47.5 percent (29 of 61) and a sizzling 54.5 percent from 3-point range (12 of 22).

Largely responsible for the Indians' long-range success was senior guard Amory Sanders, who came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points as he hit seven of 10 3-pointers.

"We kept running our offense, I kept moving to the right spot and I kept knocking them down," said Sanders. "I guess I was feeling it."

Senior forward Emmanuel McCuthison continued his consistent early-season play for the Indians with 14 points as he hit six of 10 shots from the field.

"A win is better than a loss any day," said McCuthison. "Everybody stepped it up and Amory got hot."

Southeast center Nyah Jones bounced back from his struggling performance against Toledo with a solid game as he scored seven points and tied for team-high rebounding honors with six.

Antonio Short and Terry Rogers also added seven points apiece while point guard Michael Stokes had six points, six rebounds and eight assists.

Robert Morris (0-4) was led by Robert Shirley with 12 points. The Indians held the Colonials to 34.9-percent shooting (15 of 43).

In a direct opposite of what happened against Toledo, when Southeast never held the lead, the Indians never trailed against Robert Morris and were rarely even seriously threatened during the game.

Jones got the Indians -- and himself -- off to a good start when he scored on a tip just 30 seconds into the contest. McCuthison and Short tacked on baskets as Southeast opened up an early 6-0 lead.

After the Colonials finally got on the board, McCuthison and Tim Scheer drained back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Indians into a 12-3 lead. After Robert Morris climbed to within 14-10, two 3-pointers were sandwiched around a Rogers basket as the Indians opened up a 22-10 bulge. Southeast carried a 38-28 advantage into halftime.

Southeast quickly went ahead 47-30 early in the second half and pretty much coasted the rest of the way. The Colonials managed to pull within 13 points a couple of times but could get no closer.

Two of the highlights of the final 20 minutes for the Indians were spectacular follow-up dunks by Scheer and McCuthison.

Now the Indians will try to finish up the tournament with two wins in three games, which would make Garner extremely happy, especially considering Southeast's first-round performance against Toledo.

"To go 2-1 in this tournament, especially after losing the first one, would be really good," Garner said. "But we know we're going to have a really tough game (today)."