INDIANS DROP OVC OPENER TO TENN. TECH

Having a schedule with only one home game among their first eight contests, Tennessee Tech's Golden Eagles have gotten used to playing on the road.

And the Eagles showed their comfort level away from home Saturday night, stunning Southeast Missouri State University 70-68 in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams.

A crowd of 4,942 at the Show Me Center saw the defending OVC regular-season co-champion Indians fall to 5-3. The Eagles, who opened the season with a win at South Carolina, are 3-4.

"This is a great win for us," said Tech coach Jeff Lebo. "We've been tested on the road so far this year. You never know how you're going to come out of all those road games, but we showed some real toughness tonight.

"To come in here with a young team (the Eagles have only one senior) and beat a team like SEMO is really big for us."

As satisfying as the win was for Lebo, it was that disappointing for Southeast coach Gary Garner.

"It's really disappointing, to lose the first conference game at home," Garner said. "To win the conference, you've got to protect your home court. It's a tough road now, but there are a lot of games left.

"You have to give Tennessee Tech a lot of credit. They came in here and played well."

Michael Stokes scored 16 points to lead the Indians offensively. Emmanuel McCuthison followed with 14 points and Antonio Short added 13.

Tech got 16 points from Leigh Gayden. Also in double figures were Larrie Smith with 13, Joey Westmoreland with 12 and DeAntoine Beasley with 11.

The Indians, who had sizzled from 3-point range during Tuesday's win over Southern Illinois, made just nine of 27 from long range Saturday. Tech was eight of 27 from long distance.

Once again, the Indians were beaten on the boards as Tech held a 35-31 rebounding advantage. Westmoreland led the Eagles with 10 rebounds.

"I thought Joey Westmoreland really had a big game for us," Lebo said.

Tech came away with a 39-35 halftime lead after an opening 20 minutes that featured 12 lead changes and no advantage bigger than five points.

Southeast scored the game's first four points, but Tech came back with five straight points and things went back and forth the rest of the opening period.

The Indians held their final lead of the first half at 32-29 with a little more than two minutes to go. The Eagles then used an 8-0 run getting two 3-pointers from Gayden to go up 37-32 for the biggest margin of the opening frame.

A Stokes 3-pointer got the Indians to within 37-35, but Beasley's 18-footer with 27 seconds left put the Eagles up 39-35 at the break.

Stokes did much of Southeast's offensive damage in the first half as he hit five of nine shots and scored 12 points. The rest of the Indians combined to go just eight of 21 from the field.

Things picked up in the second half right where they had left off in the first. A Gayden basket put the Eagles up 41-35 for the game's biggest lead and Tech also was ahead 46-40.

Southeast scored the next seven points to take the lead, going ahead 47-46 as Nyah Jones made one of two free throws with 14:03 remaining.

But Tech came right back to go up 49-47 on a 3-pointer by Ahmad Richardson. There were two more ties, but Southeast did not take the lead again until 6:42 left on a 3-pointer by Amory Sanders that made it 58-57.

Westmoreland's basket inside with five minutes to play but Tech back up 59-58. Sanders drilled a 3-pointer at the 4:30 mark as Southeast surged back ahead 61-59, but that would be the Indians' final lead.

Another Westmoreland bucket inside tied things at 61-61 with 3:17 left. After a Southeast miss, Beasley drove for a basket with 2:40 remaining as the Eagles went ahead 63-61.

Short's 15-footer with 2:07 to play pulled the Indians into another tie at 63-63.

With 1:26 left, Smith scored on a short jumper in the lane -- it was the Eagle's third shot on the possession as they grabbed a pair of offensive rebounds -- as Tech went up for good at 65-63.

After a Southeast miss, Tech worked the shot clock down and Beasley drove the baseline for a shot jumper that put the Eagles ahead 67-63.

Short drove for a layup with 9.8 seconds left, pulling the Indians to within 67-65.

Gayden was fouled almost immediately and he hit both ends of a one-and-one free-throw opportunity with 9.1 seconds left to make it 69-65.

McCuthison drilled a long 3-pointer with 3.2 seconds remaining as the Indians closed to within 69-68.

Westmoreland was fouled with 2.5 seconds left. He made the first free throw and missed the second, but all the Indians could get off with a one-handed heave by McCuthison from beyond mid-court that was well off the mark.