COLLEGE BASKETBALL: SOUTHEAST FACES FIRST MAJOR TEST AGAINST TOLEDO

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The preliminaries for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team are over.

Now it's time for a few main events.

Southeast, after barely working up a sweat during victories over two Division II squads to open the 2000-2001 season, will definitely do some perspiring over the next three days.

The Indians begin play today in the eight-team Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament by facing Toledo at noon at Municipal Auditorium. The Rockets, who will be playing their season opener today, are regarded as one of the favorites in the Mid-American Conference.

Also in the tournament field are Southeastern Conference member Auburn, Big East Conference member Providence and Missouri Valley Conference favorite Creighton, along with host Missouri-Kansas City, Cleveland State and Robert Morris.

If the Indians are fortunate enough to win today -- which is certainly not a given -- they would likely face Auburn in Saturday's semifinals. Regardless, they're guaranteed three games in the tournament and Southeast coach Gary Garner knows his team definitely faces a major challenge.

"It's going to be a really tough tournament, but we're looking forward to it. I think we need to see where we're at by playing this kind of competition," he said. "And we feel like we have a chance to win the tournament."

Toledo will certainly provide a major test for the Indians. The Rockets went 18-13 last season, won 11 of their final 12 games and tied with Ball State for first place in the West Division of the Mid-American Conference.

With three returning starters -- plus one of the league's premier players -- the Rockets are considered one of the teams to beat in the MAC.

"They're going to be a really good basketball team, right up there with teams like Austin Peay and Murray State from our league (the Ohio Valley Conference)," Garner said. "I don't know if we're ready for a team like Toledo, but we need to play somebody like that."

The Rockets' top player -- and one of the best in the MAC -- is 6-foot-8 senior forward Greg Stempin, a preseason MAC Player of the Year candidate who averaged 15.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last year.

Stempin, who averaged more than 15 points as a sophomore and is already a two-team first-team all-MAC selection, will present Southeast with plenty of problems. Garner said sophomore Drew DeMond will have the defensive assignment of trying to slow Stempin down.

"He's a really good player who can do a lot of things," said Garner of Stempin. "Drew is going to have his work cut out for him, but he's a good defender."

Toledo's second-leading returning scorer from last season is 6-4 senior forward Robierre Cullars, who averaged 8.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. Another big weapon for the Rockets is 6-11 senior center Craig Rodgers, who averaged 5.1 points and 4.4 rebounds last year as he was named Toledo's most improved player. Rodgers averaged 13 points in the Rockets' two exhibition victories.

Garner is hoping that the Indians' center tandem of 6-11 Nyah Jones and 6-10, 280-pound Terry Rogers will more than offset the presence of Toledo's big man.

"One thing we're really trying to do this year is get the ball inside," Garner said. "Even if he (the center) doesn't shoot the ball, we at least want to get it in to him."

In the backcourt, the Rockets are young, with 6-1 sophomore Nick Moore and 5-9 freshman point guard Terry Reynolds. Moore shared exhibition scoring honors with Cullars, both at 16 points a game, while Reynolds dished out 11 assists in the two contests.

While Reynolds is raw, he's highly touted, having played at national prep school power Maine Central Institute.

"He's a real quick player who will be the key to running our offense," said Toledo coach Stan Joplin of Reynolds.

With Southeast featuring an experienced backcourt led by point guard Michael Stokes, Garner is hoping the Indians can put some pressure on Reynolds and force him out of his comfort zone.

"He (Reynolds) is supposed to be really talented, but he's a freshman," said Garner. "Hopefully we can put some pressure on him."

Yet another key player for the Rockets figures to be 6-7 sophomore forward Milo Kirsh, a Bradley transfer who started 11 games for the Braves two years ago.

Southeast has been led offensively in its first two games wins over Truman State 70-59 and Missouri-Rolla 87-63 by senior forward Emmanuel McCuthison with a 15-point average.

Stokes is contributing 11.5 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while Sanders is getting 10 points and a team-leading five assists a contest.

DeMond has been a pleasant surprise so far in his first season as a starter, averaging 9.5 points and five rebounds while blocking a team-high seven shots in the two games.

Rogers, who sat out the season opener with bronchitis, had a big game off the bench against Missouri-Rolla with 17 points as he hit seven of eight shots, all of them from in close.

Garner acknowledged that the Indians were not overly impressive during their opening two contests, but he's not sure that wasn't partly because the inferior level of competition didn't get their intensity and focus up enough.

Getting focused and intense definitely shouldn't be a problem today or for the rest of the tournament.

"One good thing about the tournament, we'll really know a lot about our team on the bus coming back home Sunday night," said Garner. "We could lose two games, or even three games, in the tournament and still have a good basketball team because the competition is going to be that good."