INDIANS CARVE UP MIGHTY OAKS; `D' LEADS WAY IN 60-27 WIN OVER OAKLAND CITY

Coming off their huge win over Bradley, the conventional thinking might have been that Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians would be ripe for a major letdown Saturday night against Oakland City.

And, true to form, the Indians probably weren't as sharp or motivated as they had been against Bradley on Wednesday night.

But it's doubtful the Mighty Oaks from Indiana could tell the difference.

Using a stifling defense that made it tough for Oakland City to get off more than a few uncontested shots the entire night, the Indians routed the Division II Mighty Oaks 60-27 in front of 4,975 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 3-1 on the season with its third straight victory. Oakland City fell to 4-3.

"Coming off the Bradley game, I was really concerned about a letdown," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "We really preached defensive intensity. We felt if we could get that, that could win the game for us."

The Indians certainly got plenty of defensive intensity. They limited the Mighty Oaks to 17 percent shooting (eight of 48) for the game and only 10 second-half points.

While no all-time records are kept for fewest points allowed in a game or half, it's certain that the 27-point total and 10 for the second half are the fewest points allowed by a Southeast team in modern history.

"We played well defensively," Garner said. "You hold anybody to 27 points and you're doing a good job."

Bud Eley led the Indians offensively with 17 points. Also in double figures were Calvert White with 13 and Cory Johnson with 12.

Demetrius Watson came off the bench to lead Southeast rebounders with 10. Eley had five assists and White contributed four.

Oakland City's top scorer was Ricco Blanton with seven points.

The Indians, playing without point guard Kahn Cotton -- he missed the game with a turf toe injury suffered in the win over Bradley -- struggled some offensively against Oakland City.

But whatever problems the Indians had on the offensive end were more than overshadowed by their suffocating man-to-man defense that made life miserable for the Mighty Oaks.

"We can play a lot better offensively," said Garner.

Oakland City led only briefly the entire night. Love's 3-pointer was the first basket of the game and the Mighty Oaks also grabbed a 7-4 advantage early in the contest.

Johnson's three-pointer tied the score at 7-7 and began an 11-0 Southeast run. David Montgomery scored inside and Johnson drilled two more treys as the Indians opened up a 15-7 lead with 12:40 left.

The Mighty Oaks rallied briefly to within 20-14 before the Indians hit them with a 7-0 run. Watson got a layup, White hit a basket and free throw and then White dunked off a pass from Eley to make it 27-14 five minutes before halftime.

Southeast carried a 29-17 lead into the break, getting nine points from both Johnson and White.

But if the Mighty Oaks thought the going was rough offensively in the first half, well, they hadn't seen anything yet.

The Indians totally shut down Oakland City over the final 20 minutes, allowing only four points over the first 16:30 of the second half. By that time, when Garner cleared his bench in full, Southeast had outscored the visitors 29-4 to open up a 58-21 bulge.

Eley scored the first four points of the second half and Johnson added a three-pointer as the Indians went ahead 36-17 to quickly turn what had been something of a contest into a total blowout.

One of the highlights of the late going, when Southeast's reserves got plenty of playing time, was a three-pointer by freshman walkon Matt Morris that marked his first points with the Indians.

Now that their extremely productive week is over -- Southeast beat Central Methodist, Bradley and Oakland City -- the Indians can begin to set their sights on the start of Ohio Valley Conference play.

The Indians will host Tennessee State Thursday night and Austin Peay next Saturday as they open league play against the teams picked to finish second and third in the conference. Southeast was tabbed for sixth in the preseason poll.