'HAWKS LOSE TWIN-ENGINE, SPUTTER TO CAPE; UT-MARTIN VISITS SOUTHEAST TONIGHT

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team took care of business on the road to open its Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

Now the Indians will be looking to take care of things at home, beginning tonight when Tennessee-Martin provides the opposition in a 7:45 tipoff at the Show Me Center.

The Indians improved to 4-9 overall and evened their OVC record at 1-1 by winning at Tennessee State 71-53 Monday night. The Tribe had lost Saturday's league opener at Austin Peay 96-85, but a split on the road was certainly acceptable. Now Southeast faces three straight home conference games.

"You want to try and steal some wins on the road and you have to win all your games at home," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "This home series we've got is very important to us as far as the conference race goes."

UTM's Skyhawks, 3-7 overall, are 0-1 in the OVC after losing their league opener 80-68 at home against Murray State Monday night.

Last year the Skyhawks were perhaps the surprise team in the OVC as they tied for fourth with a 9-7 record on their way to a 13-14 overall mark.

But UTM lost two of the OVC's better players in Mike Hart and DeWayne Powell. According to veteran coach Cal Luther, the Skyhawks are struggling without their departed dynamic duo.

"We lost some great players and weren't able to replace them with anybody. We didn't have very good luck recruiting," said Luther. "We're virtually the same team as last year minus those two players, but we're minus about 40 points of offense. We're struggling offensively right now."

The Skyhawks' leading scorer is 6-foot-5 senior forward B.J. Nelson, a product of Century (Ill.) High and Shawnee (Ill.) Community College who averages just over 12 points per game.

"For his size playing inside he does the best he can," said Luther of Nelson. "He's just not really big enough to play inside in this league."

Joe Crumby, a 6-8 sophomore center, averages 11.2 points per game for the Skyhawks.

An overall lack of size and strength, said Luther, is a problem for the Skyhawks and he fears that might be way too much to overcome against the Indians, who feature 6-10 center Bud Eley.

"I'm really impressed with SEMO. You go over and beat Tennessee State by 20 points, you've got an outstanding club," Luther said. "I predicted before the season that SEMO would be one of the top teams in the league. They've got outstanding personnel. Nobody can match Eley. They've got some other big guys inside and some good guards.

"We don't have the size to match them. For us to be able to somehow overcome that will be very difficult."

Shumate, however, has enough respect for Luther to realize the Indians can't afford to take UTM lightly. After all, last year the Skyhawks also did not possess much size but, after losing to Southeast by 10 points in Cape Girardeau, routed the Indians by 20 in Martin.

"Coach Luther is an outstanding coach and he always has his teams ready to play," Shumate said. "Nelson really hurt us at their place last year and Wright is a good player.

"We've got to be very prepared because these next three games at home are extremely important to us."

Eley has opened OVC play with 50 points in two games to boost his scoring average to 15.8. Calvert White averages 13.4 points a game while Allen Hatchett is up to 9.2 points a contest after scoring 48 points in his last three games.

The Indians also figure to get a boost tonight from the return of injured guard Lakeo Keller, who has missed the past several games with a chipped bone in his foot.

"It's going to help having Lakeo back," said Shumate. "He's a key player for us."

SEMO vs. Tennessee-Martin

7:45 p.m., Show Me Center

Probable Starters

SEMO (4-9, 1-1 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Devron Kirksey F Jr. 6-7 6.6

Calvert White F Jr. 6-4 13.4

Bud Eley C Jr. 6-10 15.8

Dante Bryant G So. 6-1 1.0

Allen Hatchett G So. 5-10 9.2

UTM (3-7, 0-1 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

B.J. Nelson F Sr. 6-5 12.2

Demarko Wright F Sr. 6-5 8.5

Joe Crumby C So. 6-8 11.2

Ryan Owens G So. 6-1 6.9

Hamp Harper G Jr. 6-5 1.3

Series: 24-11 SEMO

Radio: K103-FM