EKU pushes Indians into OVC cellar

It doesn't look like the law of averages is ever going to shine on Southeast Missouri State University this season.

The Indians dropped their eighth down-to-the-wire Ohio Valley Conference game Thursday night as Eastern Kentucky posted an exciting 85-81 victory in front of 3,466 fans at the Show Me Center.

"You almost think you're snakebit," said Southeast coach Gary Garner, whose squad has suffered those eight league defeats by a total of 27 points. "In all eight of those games, we've needed a shot to fall and we haven't gotten it."

Besides being snakebit, time continues to fast run out as Southeast (10-14, 3-10) attempts to salvage a spot in the eight-team OVC tournament.

By losing for the eighth time in their last nine games, the Indians fell into a two-way tie for last place out of 11 squads. They trail eighth-place Jacksonville State (5-9) by 1 1/2 games. Southeast has three games left and Jacksonville State two, but the Gamecocks own the potential tie-breaker because of a win over the Indians.

"It's not over until it's over," junior forward Reggie Golson said. "We're going to keep fighting."

While the Indians are spiraling downward, the Colonels (12-12, 7-6) continue to surge under coach Travis Ford, the former star guard at Missouri and Kentucky. EKU has won four straight and moved into a fourth-place OVC tie.

"It was a great game," Ford said. "Both teams made shot after shot. I don't think you'll see a better offensive game."

EKU shot 53.4 percent from the field and hit 14 of 29 3-pointers. Southeast shot 56 percent, made seven of 12 3-pointers and canned 18 of 22 free throws. The squads combined for just 23 turnovers, 12 by the Colonels.

In the end, EKU's pint-sized guard tandem of Matt Witt and Ben Rushing were too hot to handle for the Indians.

Witt, a 6-foot sophomore who was the OVC freshman of the year last season, hit five of 11 3-pointers and scored 25 points. He was averaging 13.9.

Rushing, a 5-11 junior, came off the bench to hit seven of 14 3-pointers and score 23 points. He was averaging 9.1.

"They made some big shots," Ford said.

With Southeast missing senior center Brandon Griffin, who is out with a sprained ankle, Garner knew the Indians would have to give up some outside shots in order to keep EKU's strong inside players from having their way. Witt and Rushing took advantage.

"We had to help inside and we knew we'd give up some threes," Garner said. "We just wanted to make them as deep as possible and they hit some deep ones."

Senior center Jon Bentley added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Colonels.

"Our post guys really did a good job of finding us," Rushing said.

Southeast junior guard Derek Winans, who did not miss a shot in the first half on his way to 18 points, finished with a game-high 28. He was perfect from 3-point range at 5-for-5.

"They shot the ball well, and Witt and Rushing really hit some big shots," Winans said. "Game after game it's like this for us. It's pretty tough. We're a lot better team than three OVC wins."

Golson, filling in for Griffin at center, scored a Southeast career-high 14 points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

"They shot the ball well, but this is the story of our season," Golson said.

Junior forward Dainmon Gonner added 13 points for the Indians and junior forward Norman Prather matched his Southeast high with 10 points.

Southeast never trailed in the first half and built a 15-point lead with five minutes left. But the way both offenses were clicking, the game figured to get tight.

Trailing 46-39 at halftime, Witt scored EKU's first 10 points of the second half as the Colonels used a 10-2 run to grab their first lead at 49-48. There were 10 lead changes and nine times the rest of the way, with neither team ahead by more than four points.

Golson's reverse layup with 1:22 left pulled Southeast into a 79-79 tie. With 50 seconds remaining, junior guard Brett Hale -- who had nine points in a solid performance off the bench -- missed a wide-open 3-pointer that could have put the Indians in control.

Instead, Bentley's layup with 34 seconds left put EKU up 81-79. A Southeast turnover was followed by two Witt free throws with 10 seconds to play. The Indians made it 83-81, but two Rushing foul shots with 2.8 seconds left ended the suspense.