Conditions ripe for SE's 1st win

Southeast Missouri State University's Indians, after playing Vanderbilt to within five points Wednesday, appear poised to finally break into the win column tonight.

But Southeast coach Gary Garner warns that the Indians can't assume they will beat Division II North Alabama by simply showing up -- not that he figures his 0-5 squad will take the 2-5 Lions lightly.

"I don't think we're in a position to overlook anybody," said Garner with a laugh. "A win is a win is a win and we need a win badly. That would do wonders for us.

"Being a Division II team, you always worry about your players maybe not taking them seriously enough, but I've been in Division II and I know how good some of those teams are. I'm going to explain that to our players and hopefully it won't be a problem."

The Lions are struggling this year, but they are a traditional Division II powerhouse, winning the 1991 national championship and qualifying for three other national tournaments. Gary Elliott has a 244-130 record in his 14th season as the school's head coach.

"They have traditionally been a very good Division II program, but for whatever reason I guess they maybe are a little bit down this year," Garner said. "But watching them on tape, they seem to be very athletic. They look quick and quick teams give us problems.

"This is definitely our best chance to win, but they're definitely capable of beating us."

Garner said he is impressed on tape by the Lions' point guard, 6-foot-3 junior Rudy Williams, who not only runs the team well but is averaging 14.7 points per game.

"He's really quick and penetrates well," said Garner.

The Lions' leading scorer is 6-5 junior forward Ricky Duff, who is averaging 16.6 points and nearly eight rebounds per game. As a group, North Alabama is being outrebounded by an average of almost four per contest, which should be a welcome sight for a Southeast squad that is minus-eight on the boards for the season.

Although Southeast is still winless, Garner said he is seeing steady improvement by his young and inexperienced team. He believes the Indians played their best overall game of the season at Vanderbilt, rallying from an 18-point second-half deficit to pull within three late before falling 76-71.

"That was our best offensive game, and it was probably our best defensive game," Garner said. "We're going to be inconsistent because we're so young, but we're getting better."

Southeast entered the Vanderbilt game shooting barely 40 percent from the field, but they connected on 45 percent of their shots against the Commodores, including 50 percent in the second half.

Freshman guard Brett Hale had by far the best game of his young collegiate career with 22 point on 9-for-14 shooting. Junior swingman Demetrius King, a junior-college transfer, also had his top performance as an Indian, scoring 17 points on 7-for-11 shooting and grabbing nine rebounds.

Junior center Drew DeMond, the Ohio Valley Conference's active career leader in blocked shots with 88, had a season-high five rejections against the Commodores, giving him 14 in just four games.