COURT SESSION: INDIANS NAB HUGE ROAD WIN

It was great to get a big road win at Tennessee State on Tuesday night. We had a total team effort and it paid off with the 60-59 victory.

Kahn Cotton had his most complete game of the season at Tennessee State. He ran the break, kept us in our offense and had eight rebounds. It was his best game of the year and played a key role in our victory.

Bud Eley came back from his broken foot and gave us a big lift. He practiced for the first time on Monday and then played 21 minutes Tuesday night.

Bud had 11 rebounds and his physical presence inside really helped us. He had a couple of great assists to Demetrius Watson and his rebounding helped us win the battle of the boards.

It will take a while for Bud to get back to where he was before the injury, but it's great to have him back on the floor.

Cory Johnson continues to shoot the ball well. He was 4-for-10 on 3-pointers and a perfect 4-for-4 from the line. Johnson now leads the OVC in free-throw shooting with .886 and is a perfect 22-for-22 from the line in OVC games. He currently has a streak of 19 straight free throws without a miss.

Calvert White had another strong rebounding effort at Tennessee State with 11 boards and he hit some big shots in the second half.

Injuries are a part of the game, but the bumps and bruises in addition to Eley's injury really slowed us down the past few weeks. We seem to be healing now and we'll have several days without a game next week to hopefully get everyone healthy again.

We traveled to Tennessee State the day of the game because I felt our team was not only banged up but mentally tired after the win over Tennessee Tech and the loss to Middle Tennessee at the Show Me Center last week.

We had originally planned to go to Nashville on Monday and spend the night prior to the game in a hotel with a workout at the Gentry Complex. But, since it really isn't that far to Nashville, I thought it would be better for our team to have a good workout at the Show Me Center Monday, spend the night here and travel on the day of the game.

We left at 11 a.m. Tuesday and stopped at Clarksville, Tenn., for our pre-game meal at 2 p.m. After our meal we took the players to a shopping mall in Clarksville where they had a chance to walk around for about 45 minutes before the final 45-minute ride into Nashville. We arrived in Nashville at about 4:30 and the team had a chance to relax in the gym and get ready to play.

Travel is very tiring for a team and we have two more road trips this week, but we will be able to travel on the day of the game to both Tennessee-Martin and Murray State and that will help.

Tennessee-Martin, tonight's opponent, has been playing some good basketball in conference play and the Skyhawks are currently 4-2 in the league. We stand at 4-3 so the game shapes up as a real battle between two area rivals.

The Skyhawks really like to push the ball up the floor and they have a good inside game with the OVC's top rebounder, Ryan DeMichael, who averages 10.1 rebounds per game. We will really have to hustle back on defense and we will have to have a strong rebounding effort.

Saturday at 4 p.m. we go against Murray State at Murray. The Racers are the most talented team in the OVC and they have an outstanding overall record of 15-2, including wins over Arkansas and Iowa State. It will be a tremendous challenge for our basketball team.

It really isn't that far to Martin or Murray so hopefully some of our great fans will be able to make the trip and help us out. We're going to need all the help we can get.

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