'Hawks seek 3 straight on Racers' floor

~ Southeast hopes to extend two streaks tonight at Murray State.

After what happened last year, Southeast Missouri State's Redhawks know host Murray State will be gunning for them tonight.

But, rejuvenated by their first two-game winning streak of the season, the Redhawks say bring it on.

"They'll be looking to get us back, but we're ready," senior guard Roy Booker said following the Redhawks' first Ohio Valley Conference road victory this season, Thursday's 72-60 triumph at Eastern Illinois. "I feel like this game might have got us over the hump."

Added Booker, the OVC's leading scorer at 20.8 points per game: "Right now we're more together than we've been all year. It's a new year, 2006, and that's the way we're looking at it. We're ready to start rolling."

If the Redhawks (6-7, 3-4 OVC) are going to keep rolling tonight, they'll have to post their third consecutive victory over the Racers (7-4, 4-1) at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky. (7:30 p.m. tipoff).

What the Redhawks did to perennial OVC power Murray State last season has likely left a bitter taste in the Racers' mouths.

Not only did Southeast win at Murray State, 61-58, during the regular season, the Redhawks stunned the host Racers by the same score in the first round of the OVC tournament, handing them their first opening-round OVC tourney loss since the 1986-87 campaign.

Southeast also became one of just five teams since 1976 to win twice at Murray State in the same season.

"They'll be out to get us back after what happened last year, but we're ready to play them," junior guard Terrick Willoughby said. "Our plan was to get these two wins before going to Murray."

The Redhawks pulled that off by first beating visiting Eastern Kentucky 68-62 Monday night, then finally getting their stagnant offense untracked Thursday at Eastern Illinois.

Southeast entered that contest shooting 40.3 percent from the field. In their first six OVC games, the Redhawks' highest field-goal percentage had been 42.1. Their next-best was 40 percent.

But against the Panthers, the Redhawks shot 53.1 percent, by far their season high against a Division I opponent (Southeast shot 59 percent against NAIA Central Methodist).

"It was really good to see our offense come out of it, and hopefully that's a sign of things to come," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "We're not going to shoot that well most nights, but if we can just shoot a decent percentage, and keep our turnovers down, we'll have a chance to beat a lot of teams."

The Redhawks had only nine turnovers against Eastern Illinois, after entering the game averaging nearly 17 turnovers per game.

"It was really a good performance," Garner said.

Southeast will probably need to play that well -- and then some -- in order to have a shot at again upsetting the Racers, who beat the Redhawks in last year's regular-season meeting in Cape Girardeau.

Murray State struggled some last season with a roster featuring no returning starters and 10 newcomers.

This year the Racers are the OVC's most experienced team, having returned all five starters along with most of their top reserves.

Not surprisingly, Murray State entered the campaign as the overwhelming favorite to win its 20th OVC regular-season championship. The Racers are currently tied for first.

"They're so experienced and deep," Garner said.

Although the Racers average 74.3 points per game, that production is spread around as their top two scorers average barely 11 points a contest.

Issian Redding, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, leads at 11.3 points per game, followed by 6-5 junior forward Shawn Witherspoon at 11.1.

Witherspoon is the OVC's second-leading rebounder with 8.1 per game, while 6-10, 245-pound senior center Pearson Griffith tops the conference with 33 blocked shots.

The Racers lead the OVC in rebounding margin (plus 5.4 per game), field-goal defense (40 percent) and 3-point defense (28.9 percent). Southeast is second in rebounding margin (plus 2.4).

"They're a great team, and we know we'll really have our work cut out for us," Garner said. "But confidence means so much, and we'll go there with some confidence."