INDIANS BOOST MORALE, DOWN MORRIS BROWN

ATLANTA -- It might not have made them totally forget Saturday night's tough Ohio Valley Conference loss at Eastern Illinois, but Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians definitely had some fun Monday night.

Facing host Morris Brown College in a non-conference matchup, the Indians exploded in the second half and went on to romp 82-63 in front of about 1,000 fans at John H. Lewis Arena.

The Indians improved to 11-7 while the Wolverines, a first-year NCAA Division I program, fell to 4-16.

"I wish it had been a conference game," said Southeast coach Gary Garner with a smile. "Really, I didn't know how we'd play, coming off Saturday's game.

"We didn't play great, but I thought we played pretty good. I thought we had good intensity and it was a good team effort."

Southeast put on a running and dunking show in the second half, led by one sequence in which Tim Scheer and Antonio Short threw down consecutive jams, Scheer on an alley-oop feed from Michael Stokes and Short on a one-hander in traffic. Short's slam completed a 9-0 run, putting the Indians up 72-53 and sending the Morris Brown fans scurrying for the exits.

"We were struggling in the first half," said Short. "In the second half we came out loose and got a lot of fast-break baskets."

The Indians shot a sizzling 72 percent from the field over the final 20 minutes as they built on a tenuous 33-29 halftime advantage. Southeast had at least a half-dozen jams in the final half and some other easy baskets, which helped account for its 18-for-25 accuracy from the floor.

"We really executed well offensively in the second half," Garner said. "We got a lot of good shots and got a lot of easy baskets."

Amory Sanders, the nation's third-leading 3-point shooter at nearly 56 percent entering the game, hit five of seven 3-pointers and scored a team-high 17 points off the bench. Sanders is now shooting better than 57 percent from beyond the arc.

"It was hard to get ready for a game like this, especially after a big loss," said Sanders. "It (Saturday's defeat) was a blow to our ego, but I commend the guys for coming back like this."

Short added 16 points for Southeast while three other Indians also reached double figures. Stokes continued his impressive season with 13 points, six assists, six rebounds and three steals. Emmanuel McCuthison also scored 13 points while Scheer came off the bench to add 12.

Scheer, who did all of his offensive damage in the second half, turned in his third straight solid performance after having previously not seen all that much action. Scheer is averaging nearly 12 points over the last three games.

Garner also had plenty of praise for Nyah Jones, the Indians' senior center who has struggled much of the season. Jones came off the bench to score seven points and pull down a team-high seven rebounds while showing plenty of aggressive play.

"Tim has had three good games in a row. He's a tough player," said Garner. "Nyah played the best he's played in a while. He was aggressive and took the ball to the basket.

"Amory is probably the one that got us started (in the second half). He hit those two or three 3-pointers. And Stokie had the best game of all, but you expect that out of him. Boy, he's having a great year."

Akiem Claborn paced the Wolverines with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Kareem Allison scored 18 points and also grabbed 10 rebounds while Anthony Adams added 14 points.

The first half was tight virtually the entire way, with several lead changes. Morris Brown went up 8-2 early before the contest settled down into a back-and-forth affair.

An 8-0 run late in the opening half gave the Indians the lead for good, Sanders' 3-pointer at the 3:46 mark putting Southeast up 26-24. The spurt ended with a Stokes steal and layup that made it 28-24. The Indians still led by four at the break, 33-29.

Southeast steadily pulled away in the second half, thanks in large part to Scheer. He scored six straight Indian points as Southeast built a 56-44 lead midway through the period.

After that, the Wolverines never seriously threatened. And the Indians iced the victory with their 9-0 run that ended with dunks by Scheer and Short, making it 72-53. Southeast's biggest lead was 75-55 on a Short 3-pointer.

The Indians will return to Cape Girardeau today and then start preparing for this weekend's OVC road trip to Kentucky, where Southeast will play Morehead State Saturday and Eastern Kentucky the following Monday.

"This will definitely help our morale as we go back to practice," Garner said. "It would have been really tough if we had lost this one."