COLLEGE BASKETBALL: WILD GAMEJ CAPS WEIRD WEEKEND

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It was something of an eventful weekend for Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team -- and that has nothing to do with the fact the Indians won two of three games in the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament to capture the consolation trophy representing fifth place.

The original bus transporting the team developed radiator problems after arriving in Kansas City Thursday afternoon and a replacement bus had to be sent all the way from the bus company's main office in Fair Dealing, Mo., which is on the other side of Poplar Bluff.

Then Saturday afternoon, as the Indians were returning to their hotel following their consolation semifinal victory over Robert Morris, the bus was involved in an accident as a sport utility vehicle apparently ran a red light and caused a collision.

The bus suffered some damage, although none of the team members received any injuries. As might have been expected, the vehicle that caused the accident had the most damage, but the driver was also not hurt.

Ultimately, a second replacement bus had to be sent to Kansas City because the original replacement bus had received too much damage from the accident. Finally, with the third bus of the trip, the Indians were able to make it safely back to Cape Girardeau Sunday night.

"You don't have many road trips where you use three buses," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "Fortunately, nobody was hurt. That's the most important thing."

* Although he had his sights set on claiming the title and he thought his team had a legitimate chance -- Garner said before the tournament that it would be great if the Indians could at least win two of their three games.

With the talent in the eight-team event, Garner knew the real possibility existed for the Indians to lose two games and maybe even all three, although Robert Morris proved to be an extremely weak squad.

That's why Garner was elated that the Indians were able to bounce back from their opening-round loss to Toledo to win their last two contests, including a victory over a solid Cleveland State team Sunday. Cleveland State lost to eventual runner-up Creighton by just two points in the first round.

"We wanted to win the tournament and I thought we had a chance, but to win two games in a really good field like this, I thought it was a good tournament for us," Garner said.

* Toledo capped an impressive tourney by beating Creighton 61-57 in Sunday's finals.

* The Indians won't have much time to rest up back home before hitting the road again. They will leave Cape Girardeau Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday night's game at Mississippi Valley State.

Garner will no doubt be keeping his fingers crossed that only one bus will be needed for that trip.