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SportsDecember 22, 1999

We had a great basketball atmosphere at the Show Me Center Saturday night and the enthusiastic crowd helped us beat a very good Arkansas State team. It took our best 40-minute effort of the season to beat ASU. I thought the crowd really helped us late in the game, when ASU had the ball and we were up by only three...

Gary Garner

We had a great basketball atmosphere at the Show Me Center Saturday night and the enthusiastic crowd helped us beat a very good Arkansas State team.

It took our best 40-minute effort of the season to beat ASU. I thought the crowd really helped us late in the game, when ASU had the ball and we were up by only three.

The crowd came to its feet and the noise was great. I know our players fed off the energy of the crowd and we held on to claim the victory.

Our basketball team is also feeding off the energy of senior Brian Bunche, who had an outstanding game Saturday night.

What a tremendous effort! Brian went after every rebound like it was the final rebound in a tight NCAA Tournament game. When he didn't get the rebound he kept the ball alive so someone else had a chance...he took charges...and was on the floor after every loose ball. Brian is doing all the little things that it takes to win games and he is doing it with great intensity.

Brian is so tough! He is providing great leadership by example. He plays so hard and with so much intensity. He is our enforcer and provides a real physical presence on the floor. All of the things Brian does don't show up in the boxscore but they are showing up in the win column.

Michael Stokes also had a great game in a head-to-head confrontation with the two-time Sun Belt Player of the Year, Chico Fletcher.

Michael is the type of player who seems to be able to rise to the occasion and he was ready to go Saturday night. He had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot while holding Fletcher to just 10 points. The effort earned him OVC Newcomer of the Week honors.

Mike Branson has really learned to use our offense. He knows how to come off picks and he knows how to work to get his shot. Saturday night he had 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting.

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Amory Sanders was 6-for-6 from the line and hit big free throws down the stretch, and Roderick Johnson is our Mr. Consistency; he had 12 points and five rebounds against ASU.

Our bench gave us some quality minutes, including the first playing time this season for Fred Abraham, who hit his only shot, a 3-pointer.

Fred told me after the game that he was a lot more nervous than he thought he would be. It takes some time to get back into the rhythm when you've been out of games since last season.

It was a great victory, but now we face an even bigger challenge in tonight's game at Bradley. Bradley is the preseason choice to win the Missouri Valley Conference and has great athletes who play great defense.

Stokes will again have his work cut out for him going against Bradley's Rob Dye, who is the MVC's preseason Player of the Year. Dye is bigger and stronger than Fletcher and he's averaging nearly 18 points per game.

It will take an outstanding effort for us to win at Bradley, but I think our team feels confident we can play with the Braves.

Following the game, our players will be released so they can go home for the Christmas holiday. All our players will be going home and they will return Dec. 27 so we can begin preparations for the Jan. 2 game at Southern Illinois.

My wife Barbara and I will go to Pilot Grove Thursday to be with her parents and then we will go on to West Plains for Christmas with my family Friday. Christmas Day we will be at home in Cape Girardeau with our sons.

I hope you all have a very happy holiday season!

Gary Garner is the head men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University

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