EIU REFUSES TO TURN OVER WIN TO TRIBE

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- In Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball coach Gary Garner's estimation, the Indians played a pretty good game here Saturday night.

But Garner believed Eastern Illinois played exceptionally well and that was the main reason the Panthers were able to break a six-game losing streak against Southeast, prevailing 83-71 in front of 4,860 enthusiastic fans at Lantz Gym.

EIU improved to 11-6 overall and 4-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play while dropping the defending OVC champion Indians to 10-7 overall and 2-4 in the league as Southeast's hopes of repeating its league title grew even fainter.

"I thought we played pretty well, but Eastern Illinois just played exceptionally well," said Garner, scanning the statistics sheet that showed the Panthers with the ridiculously low turnover total of six. "There's the basketball game. We're not the kind of team that forces a lot of turnovers, but to only have six...They just really played well."

As for the Indians' status in the OVC race, even though there are still 10 league games remaining, Garner knows Southeast isn't in a good position.

"The two we lost at home earlier (two-point setbacks to both Tennessee Tech and Murray State) really hurt us, and so does this," he said. "I really felt like we needed this one.

"But we just have to stay positive and keep getting better. We're just so close to having a good basketball team, but we just can't quite get over the hump."

EIU finally got over the hump against Southeast, much to the delight of Panthers coach Rick Samuels.

"Southeast has a very good team and they're the defending conference champions," said Samuels.

"It's a big win for us. I thought we played very well, and we had to because they kept coming back."

The Indians sliced a 15-point deficit to just two with more than five minutes remaining, but the Panthers had every answer down the stretch.

Henry Domercant, a sophomore swingman who is the nation's second-leading scorer at 25 points per game, shook off a slow start to lead the Panthers with 23 points, although he hit just eight of 19 shots from the field.

Kyle Hill, a senior guard who is the nation's seventh-leading scorer at nearly 23 points per contest, added 18 points for the Panthers. He hit just four of 12 field-goal attempts.

Matt Britton, another senior guard, scored 16 points for EIU. Inside players Todd Bergmann and Jesse Mackinson both contributed 10 points, the freshman Mackinson doing his damage off the bench.

EIU, the OVC's top free-throw shooting team at 77 percent, sizzled from the foul line, hitting 23 of 24 for an impressive 96 percent. The Panthers went 20-for-20 from the charity stripe in the second half. Hill went 10-for-11 in the game while Domercant was 6-for-6 and Britton 5-for-5.

"I really felt good about our defense," Garner said, noting that the Panthers shot only 42 percent from the floor on 28 of 66. "We had some breakdowns, but defense isn't our problem. We have a sound defensive basketball team. But offensively, we just haven't turned the corner yet."

Michael Stokes was Southeast's lone double-figure scorer as he had 21 points. The senior point guard had an all-around strong night with five assists, five rebounds and just two turnovers while playing the entire 40 minutes.

Drew DeMond scored nine points and blocked five shots. Amory Sanders also scored nine points as he hit three of four 3-pointers. Tim Scheer had his second straight strong game off the bench, hitting two of three 3-pointers on his way to eight points. Scheer also grabbed six rebounds.

EIU held a 35-31 halftime lead despite Domercant and Hill combining for just 12 points as the pair collectively hit just five of 17 shots from the field, with Domercant going 3-for-11 and scoring seven points.

Southeast held only two first-half leads, at 11-10 and 14-12. Those would be the only two times all game that the Indians were ahead.

The Indians were able to stifle EIU's potent offense for quite a while, thanks to six early blocked shots, including three by DeMond over the first eight minutes.

But the Panthers finally heated up. They used a 7-0 run to build a 26-18 lead with just under seven minutes left in the half, then they went up by 11 at 33-22 on a Mackinson basket with 3:19 remaining.

The Indians rallied, however, by closing the half with a 9-2 run, a Sanders' 3-pointer with 28 seconds left pulling Southeast to within four at the break.

EIU scored the first six points of the second half two apiece by Domercant, Hill and Jan Thompson -- to quickly build a 41-31 advantage.

Scheer's 3-pointer with 16:30 left cut EIU's lead to 43-36. A conventional three-point play by Stokes at the 15:34 mark made it 45-39 and moments later Stokes made one of two free throws as the Indians pulled to within 45-40.

Britton came right back with a huge 3-pointer that put the Panthers up 48-40. Southeast cut the deficit to six points several times in the next few minutes but could get no closer.

Leading 56-49 with just under 10 minutes to go, EIU used a 10-2 run to build the biggest lead of the night at 66-51 with just over eight minutes remaining.

But the Indians were far from finished. They scored the game's next 13 points. A 3-pointer by Antonio Short trimmed Southeast's deficit to 66-60 with 6:07 left, then Stokes drilled a 3-pointer and was fouled. He hit the free throw to complete the unusual four-point play and all of a sudden the Indians were within 66-64 at the 5:38 mark.

Domercant came right back with a 3-pointer with 5:25 to play, making it 69-64. After a Southeast turnover, Britton was fouled and made both free throws for a 71-64 lead at the 4:59 mark.

The Indians were able to get within four points twice, at 73-69 after DeMond's three-point play with 3:09 left and at 75-71 on two Emmanuel McCuthison free throws with 1:23 remaining.

EIU, however, was able to seal the triumph from the charity stripe, going 8-for-8 in the final 1:01 as Southeast was held scoreless for the last 1:23.

"It wound up a 12-point game, but we were right there until nearly the end," said Garner. "We're so close to having a good (OVC) record, but we don't."

Southeast will remain on the road, heading to Atlanta today in preparation for Monday night's non-conference game against Morris Brown.