COURT SESSION: INDIANS NAB PAIR OF BIG ROAD WINS

We are coming off two straight road wins at Tennessee-Martin and Eastern Kentucky. Both games were against teams near the bottom of the league standings and it would have been easy for our team to overlook them.

I was proud, though, that our team took care of business. We didn't play with a lot of emotion, but we played well and got two victories. Being able to do that is the sign of a championship team.

I thought our bench played a key role in both wins. At Tennessee-Martin Saturday afternoon, I didn't like the way the game started out so I put in four players off the bench just a minute and a half into the game. The bench responded and helped us build up a lead that we maintained for the victory.

Fred Abraham, Nathan Owen, Brian Bunche and Demetrius Watson all contributed in a lot of ways to the two road victories.

At Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night, Brian had a strong game with eight points and eight rebounds while Nathan broke out of a shooting slump by scoring nine points, including hitting 2-for-4 3-pointers.

I was also happy to see guards Kahn Cotton and Cory Johnson have big games at Eastern Kentucky. Kahn had 14 points while Cory had 10. They rank first and second in the Ohio Valley Conference in free-throw shooting and added to their percentages as Cory was 5-for-5 and Kahn hit his only attempt.

Mike Branson has also regained his shooting eye from 3-point range as he went 4-for-7 at Eastern Kentucky.

Roderick Johnson had a great second half in the Tennessee-Martin game and came back with a solid effort at Eastern Kentucky despite playing only 19 minutes because of foul trouble.

Bud Eley just continues to dominate games. At Eastern Kentucky, he had 15 points, 16 rebounds, two assists and one block while playing just 25 minutes.

It appears that all the components of our game are starting to come together with only one regular-season game remaining and then the OVC Tournament. I continue to stress to the players that we have to continue to improve every day in practice. If we do that, we will have a chance to win the OVC Tournament

Last Thursday at Murray State, we basically lost the game in a 49-second stretch early in the second half when they scored 10 points in that period of time while holding us scoreless. We just can't let that happen against a team with the talent of a Murray State.

I was happy that our players bounced back to get within three points late in the game, but we couldn't get a 3-pointer to fall and the Racers held on for the win.

Saturday night will be senior night in our final regular-season game against Eastern Illinois. We will honor our four seniors prior to the game.

The seniors, Bud Eley, Kahn Cotton, Cory Johnson and Demetrius Watson, have all played a key role in leading us to our best overall record at the Division I level and our best OVC record ever.

All four seniors have given us tremendous leadership both on and off the court. They work hard at practice every day and set a great example for our younger players.

Bud has just dominated most games this season and his records in rebounding and blocked shots will last a long time. He has enjoyed an outstanding career.

Kahn has been our point guard who keeps us going. He is a talented player who has provided many thrills in clutch situations.

Cory is one of the best shooters I've ever been around. He leads the league in free-throw shooting and is on course to establish a new record for career free-throw percentage. He also holds several 3-point school records.

Demetrius is our warrior. He just helps in what ever way we ask. He has started and come off the bench and always gives us a great effort.

The seniors have been our nucleus and hopefully they still have a lot of games to play.

Saturday night's game with Eastern Illinois will be important because we need to go into tournament play on a positive note and playing well.

Eastern Illinois will be a big challenge because they are still playing for one of the home-court spots in the OVC Tournament. They have had a full week to prepare for us and they will definitely give us their best shot.

It should be a great game. I hope we'll see you there Saturday night and then on Tuesday night in the OVC Tournament opener.

Gary Garner is the head men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University. His weekly column is sponsored by Rust Communications.