Golson makes strong debut against Mighty Oaks

Reggie Golson always seems to have a grin on his face anyway, but it was a lot bigger Wednesday night when Golson made his Southeast Missouri State University debut.

And, although Golson may not quite be at full strength, he flashed plenty of skills during the Indians' 88-66 romp over Division II Oakland City in front of about 1,000 fans -- the announced attendance was 1,920, based on tickets sold -- who fought through heavy snow and made it to the Show Me Center

Golson, a 6-foot-7 forward who transferred to Southeast from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, had not played in the Indians' first five games as he recovered from September knee surgery.

Finally deemed fit for action, Golson came off the bench to score 10 points and grab eight rebounds in 14 minutes.

"It felt good. It's been a long time," said Golson, flashing his trademark smile. "It took me a while to get in the flow of the game, but once I got going I felt good."

Golson, who described himself as "close to full strength," is a welcome addition to the lineup for Southeast coach Gary Garner.

"It was great to work Reggie in and he should only get better," Garner said. "He'll add a lot to our team."

Most of the Indians added a lot Wednesday against the totally overmatched Mighty Oaks from Oakland City, Ind.

Southeast, which evened its record at 3-3 and dropped the Oaks to 1-3, built a 27-6 lead seven minutes into the first half and probably could have named the final score. The Indians, whose biggest lead was 31 points, led 53-25 at halftime and the margin never dipped under 22 points in the second half.

"Needless to say, we were a lot more talented than them so we should have jumped on them early," Garner said. "The game was basically over in the first 10 minutes, which a game like this should have been."

Brandon Griffin led five Southeast players in double figures with 16 points. He also continued his strong rebounding with 14 boards as the Indians dominated the glass 50-26.

Also scoring in double figures, in addition to Golson, were Derek Winans (15), Damarcus Hence (13) and Demetrius King (10).

"We got off to a good start, but we could have done better later in the game," King said. "But we just used this game to work on things we needed to work on."

Added Adam Crader, who was the Indians' third-leading rebounder with six while also scoring four points off the bench, "We didn't keep it on them as much as we should have, but it was still a pretty good game for us."

One thing Garner did like about the blowout is that it allowed him to use his two walk-on freshmen, John Boggio and Lance Sechrest.

Boggio, who had played briefly in one other game, scored his first collegiate points with a first-half layup. Sechrest saw his first action of the season.

"They practice as hard as anybody and it's really good to see them get some playing time," Garner said.

All 12 Indians played and 10 scored. Southeast shot 51.6 percent from the field (32 of 62) while holding Oakland City to 39.7 percent (25 of 63), including just 27.3 percent in the first half.

Alexious Osumenya and Jared McIntire each scored 12 points to lead the Oaks.

Garner -- who lauded the hearty Southeast fans on the public-address system following the game -- and the Indians can now fully turn their attention to the team they were probably thinking about Wednesday anyway: Southern Illinois.

The high-flying, undefeated Salukis, fresh of Tuesday's 85-56 rout of Murray State, visit the Show Me Center Saturday night.

"We've been looking to SIU since Tuesday in practice," admitted Crader.

Added King, "We're looking ahead to that one. We'll be hyped for it."

mmishow@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 132