COLLEGE BASKETBALL: TOLEDO HANDS SE FIRST LOSS 59-43

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Gary Garner kept waiting for his Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team to start playing at least halfway decent.

But it never happened. And the result was the Indians' first loss of the young season, 59-43 to Toledo Friday afternoon in the opening round of the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament at Municipal Auditorium.

Southeast (2-1) dropped into the consolation side of the eight-team bracket and will take on Robert Morris (0-3) at noon today. Robert Morris lost to Auburn 89-71 Friday. The Indians will also play a game Sunday, either at 11 a.m. or 1 p.m., depending on how they fare today.

The Indians suffered through a miserable offensive performance against Toledo (1-0), which Garner attributed partly to the Rockets' defensive effort but also partly to his own squad's shaky play.

"First of all, you have to give Toledo a lot of credit. They're a good basketball team and they're going to have a very good year," said Garner. "Offensively, we weren't very good. Toledo is a good defensive team, but we weren't getting good shots, especially early in the game.

"Defensively, I thought we played pretty well until late. But we just could never get anything going offensively."

The Indians shot just 33 percent from the field in the game (18 of 55) and they hit just four of 21 3-point attempts for a miserable 19 percent. Throw in the fact the Rockets outrebounded Southeast 47 to 28 and hit 18 of 31 free throws compared to three of six for the Indians and it's not surprising they lost by 16 points.

"I thought rebounding was the biggest factor in the game," Garner said. "There was a big difference (in the free throws the teams shot), but it wasn't the officiating (that beat Southeast)."

Southeast was led in scoring by Emmanuel McCuthison with 14 points. He hit six of 10 shots from the field and was really the Indians' only consistent offensive force in the contest. Antonio Short added 11 points.

Terry Reynolds, Toledo's highly touted freshman point guard, had a brilliant collegiate debut with 23 points, five assists, five rebounds, two steals and zero turnovers while playing 34 minutes. The lightning quick 5-foot-9 Reynolds, who scored 16 second-half points, hit seven of 12 shots from the floor and eight of eight free throws.

Garner was plenty impressed by the Toledo rookie as he solidly outplayed Southeast star point guard Michael Stokes, who missed much of the first half after getting two early fouls and never seemed to ever get into the flow of the game. Stokes hit just one of five shots and scored only three points.

"I thought Reynolds had a really good game," said Garner. "He penetrated well and really got them going in the second half."

Greg Stempin, a senior forward who figures to be one of the leading candidates for player of the year honors in the Mid-American Conference, added 14 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Rockets. Robierre Cullars, despite standing only 6-5, led all rebounders with 12.

"I was really happy with our rebounding and defense," said Toledo coach Stan Joplin. "I told the players that if we're going to be successful this year, we have to play good defense."

Southeast began the game sluggish and went more than six minutes without getting their first point. Fortunately for the Indians, Toledo also didn't come out all that strong so Southeast fell behind just 8-0 in the early going.

McCuthison finally got the Indians on the scoreboard with a driving shot 6:22 into the first contest. A McCuthison 3-pointer pulled the Indians to within 8-5.

Toledo surged ahead 15-5 as the Indians hit another offensive drought, but the Rockets struggled offensively over the final stages of the opening half and Southeast closed the period with a 12-2 run.

Tim Scheer, who provided something of a spark off the bench with four first-half points, grabbed an offensive rebound and hit an off-balance 15-foot baseline shot with five seconds left before the intermission, tying the contest at 17-17 heading into the break.

"I felt like we were in pretty good shape at halftime," Garner said. "I thought we'd get something going (in the second half), but we never could."

Southeast, which never led in the game, could not get over the hump in the second half even though the Indians hung close until the final minutes. The game was tied at 19-19, but four quick points by Reynolds pushed the Rockets ahead 23-19 and the Indians could get no closer than two points after that.

Toledo threatened to blow the game open by building a 30-23 lead, but Southeast pulled to within 33-30 with just under 12 minutes remaining.

The Rockets surged ahead 41-30 after an 8-0 run, but again the Indians battled back as an Amory Sanders 3-pointer trimmed their deficit to 43-37 with 6:17 remaining.

But the Rockets then used a 14-2 run to wipe out any chance of a Southeast comeback. They closed strong by hitting 14 of 23 second-half shots (61 percent) after going just six of 25 (24 percent) in the first half.

"We were more efficient as far as shot selection in the second half," said Joplin.

Said Stempin, "It was a pretty ugly first half. But coach stresses defense so much. We feel like that will keep us in every game."

Now the Indians must regroup for consolation play, beginning with today's game against struggling Robert Morris from Pennsylvania, which competes in the Northeast Conference.

"It's always hard to play consolation games. Everybody has high hopes of winning the (tournament) championship, and we can't anymore. But that's also true of who we're playing," said Garner.