EIU BOOKS ROAD TRIP FOR INDIANS; PANTHERS DEFEAT SOUTHEAST 92-69

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Southeast Missouri State University's road woes continued here Saturday afternoon.

As a result, the Indians will hit the road for the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference post-season basketball tournament.

Eastern Illinois University's Panthers made sure of that -- and in emphatic fashion -- as they hammered Southeast 92-69 in front of 3,279 fans at Lantz Gym.

Southeast winds up the regular season with a 12-17 overall record and a 9-9 OVC mark, which ties the Indians for fifth place with EIU. EIU is 12-14 overall and also 9-9 in league play.

Both squads will be on the road Tuesday night for the first round of the OVC post-season tourney, Southeast at Middle Tennessee State and EIU at Tennessee Tech. The starting times have not yet been determined.

"It's disappointing," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "We had an opportunity to play a home game (in the conference tournament), but we didn't get the job done."

The Indians didn't even come close to getting the job done as they lost their fifth straight road game.

Rick Kaye, a 6-foot-5 guard who had missed the last two games with back spasms, poured in 34 points to lead the Panthers. He hit 12 of 18 shots from the field, many of those baskets set up by great passes from Chad Peckinpaugh.

Peckinpaugh, a 6-3 point guard, was dazzling with a school-record 18 assists -- and only three turnovers -- to go along with 17 points.

"We couldn't get him under control at all," said Shumate. "Kaye scored 34 points, but how many were set up by Peckinpaugh?"

Also in double figures for the Panthers were Idris Osei-Agyeman (13 points) and John Smith (11).

Southeast got 28 points and nine rebounds from 6-10 center Bud Eley, who hit 12 of 22 shots. But the rest of the Indians combined to shoot just 16 of 46. Allen Hatchett added 10 points.

"I thought we really played well," said EIU coach Rick Samuels. "It was great to have Rick back again and Chad played a tremendous game."

The Indians entered their final regular-season contest knowing a victory would allow them to host a first-round OVC tourney game.

The Panthers, meanwhile, entered their final regular-season game knowing they would definitely be on the road for the first round of the league tournament.

So the Indians might have had a bit more incentive, you say? It sure didn't look like it as the Panthers, after falling behind early, took control of the contest and never let Southeast up for air.

With Peckinpaugh running EIU's offense to perfection, it appeared for much of the game like the Panthers were going through layup drills against Southeast's tissue-soft defense.

The Panthers, getting wide-open shots virtually all day -- much like Tennessee-Martin had done during Southeast's 92-62 loss there on Thursday -- blistered the nets for 58 percent shooting (33 of 57), including 53 percent from 3-point range (eight of 15).

Southeast shot just 41 percent (28 of 68), and that figure gets much worse without Eley's numbers.

"We didn't guard them," Shumate said. "We gave up way too many easy baskets. We couldn't stop anybody defensively."

The Indians actually looked fairly good in the early going, scoring the game's first basket and building several four-point leads in the opening minutes.

EIU grabbed its first lead of the contest on two Marc Polite free throws that made it 16-15 with 12:11 left in the opening half.

That was the beginning of the end for the Indians. Kurt Cuffle completed a 10-0 EIU run with a layup that made it 22-15 at the 10:28 mark.

Southeast got within 27-23 and the Indians were still hanging around at 31-26 after a Dante Bryant 3-pointer with 4:30 left. Bryant came off the bench and scored a career-high eight points, hitting two of three from 3-point range.

But the Panthers broke the game open by closing the half with a 15-1 run. Kaye scored 10 of the points and his 3-pointer with two seconds left put EIU ahead 46-27 at the break.

The Panthers then quickly dashed any Southeast comeback hopes by scoring the first eight points of the second half to open up a 54-27 bulge.

Southeast came back with a 12-0 run to make it 54-39, but the Indians never got closer as EIU cruised to victory.