EIU rises up again, drops Southeast

Southeast Missourian

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- There is something about Southeast Missouri State University's Indians that brings out the best in Eastern Illinois.

The Panthers made it a clean sweep of the season series by hammering the Indians 85-73 Tuesday night in front of 1,438 fans at Lantz Arena.

EIU, which defeated the Indians 85-75 on Jan. 4 in Cape Girardeau, improved to 9-12 overall and 4-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast, which had a two-game winning streak snapped, has identical records of 9-12 and 4-5. The Indians are just 2-8 on the road this season.

"It seems like they play their best against us," Southeast coach Gary Garner said.

The Panthers certainly have shot well against Southeast this season. In the earlier meeting, they blistered the nets for 57 percent from the field, including 70 percent in the second half as they led by 19 points late before coasting to victory.

Tuesday night, the Panthers -- who entered the contest shooting less than 43 percent this season -- again wound up at 57 percent as they built a late 20-point lead before cruising home.

EIU hit 31 of 54, including seven of 11 from 3-point range.

"They just light us up, but we're not a good defensive team," Garner said. "It's the same problem we've had all year long. We couldn't stop them when we had to, then we hit that dry spell."

Said EIU coach Rick Samuels, "I think matchups are partly to do with it. They don't have good matchups against us. We went five consecutive games where we shot under 40 percent. We need to figure out how to do this against other teams."

Henry Domercant, the Panthers' All-American candidate, had his usual strong performance by scoring 35 points, the same total he had in the earlier meeting against Southeast. And last season, he scored 39 and 38 points against the Indians.

Domercant, a 6-foot-4 senior swingman, hit 10 of 16 shots from the field, including four of seven 3-pointers, and he added 11 of 13 from the free-throw line.

But as in the previous meeting with Southeast, Domercant had plenty of help from his less heralded teammates.

Jesse Mackinson, a 6-8 junior center, hit seven of 13 from the floor and scored 15 points. He had 18 in the earlier meeting.

Perhaps Tuesday's biggest surprise, however, was 6-5 junior forward David Roos, who was being counted on as one of the Panthers' key recruits this season but has been a disappointment much of the year.

Roos entered the contest averaging 3.5 points per game as his playing time had steadily dwindled. But he burned the Indians for 12 points off the bench, hitting four of five shots, including all three of his 3-point attempts. Roos also had 12 points in the earlier game against Southeast for his only double-figure scoring performances of the season.

"Actually, both SEMO games I was told to step up," Roos said. "I got benched and had limited minutes until I started producing. Tonight I got in early and produced."

Said Garner, "Roos hit three big threes on us. But he was wide open when he hit them. We weren't very good on the defensive end."

Southeast got a career-high 29 points from sophomore guard Brett Hale, who hit 11 of 13 shots, including four of five 3-pointers. Hale has 49 points in his last two games.

"I've just been feeling good lately and shooting the ball with a lot of confidence," Hale said. "But we really didn't do a good job on defense. They seem to come to play against us. They have confidence against us, and it shows."

Junior center Brandon Griffin had his ninth double-double of the season for the Indians as he scored 18 points and pulled down 13 rebounds. Griiffin, who made eight of 10 shots, also had four steals and three assists.

Senior forward Tim Scheer added 14 points, but sophomore guard Derek Winans -- the Indians' leading scorer with nearly 16 points per game -- hit two of 10 shots and scored only six points. Sophomore point guard Kevin Roberts recorded seven assists.

"Teams are really concentrating on trying to stop Derek," Garner said. "But Brett did a good job of getting open, and he really shot the ball well. And Brandon really had a good game."

Southeast shot decent enough, hitting 29 of 61 for 47.5 percent, but the Indians did not have nearly enough firepower to keep up with the red-hot Panthers. And 18 turnovers didn't help.

"When we win, we've got to outscore people and keep scoring, like we did against Tennessee Tech Saturday night," Garner said. "Tonight we couldn't slow them down, and we couldn't keep up with their scoring. And that's too many turnovers for us."

The Indians actually began the game well enough, jumping out to early leads of 15-7 and 17-9. The Panthers used an 11-0 run to go up 23-19, but Southeast surged back ahead 25-23.

Mackinson's 15-foot jumper with 5:42 remaining in the half put EIU up 27-25, and Southeast fought an uphill battle the rest of the way.

Trailing 40-34 at halftime, the Indians pulled into a 45-45 tie on a Winans' 3-pointer with 15:16 remaining.

Domercant came right back with a 3-pointer nine seconds later to put EIU up 48-45, and the Panthers never looked back.

EIU was nursing a 50-47 lead when Roos hit two 3-pointers and a free throw while Domercant nailed a trey during a 10-2 run that put the Panthers up 59-49.

The run later became 14-2 as EIU went up 64-49 with just under 10 minutes remaining. The Panthers built a 77-57 lead and coasted home.

mmishow@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 132