Indians end skid, beat UTM

Southeast Missouri State University never led Tennessee-Martin until early in the second half Thursday night.

But once the Indians did finally go ahead, there was no stopping them as they broke a four-game losing streak with a 89-78 victory in front of 3,506 fans at the Show Me Center.

The Indians, reaching a season-high point total, improved to 10-10 overall and 3-6 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Skyhawks fell to 8- 13 and 3-6.

"We really needed this win," senior center Brandon Griffin said. "This put us back on our feet."

Southeast, which had played its previous four games on the road, rebounded with one of its best performances of the season. The Indians, getting plenty of layups through offensive execution, shot 51.7 percent from the field and had only eight turnovers.

"After that four-game slide, to come out and play like this...we executed our game plan," junior guard Derek Winans said.

Said Southeast coach Gary Garner, "We played well. We played really well offensively."

Winans led the Indians with 28 points. He hit nine of 14 field-goal attempts, including three of six 3-pointers, and made all seven of his free throws. He also had four steals and three assists.

Griffin, continuing his recent string of dominant inside performances, had 21 points, nine rebounds, seven assists and three steals as he was Southeast's Copi-Rite player of the game. Griffin hit eight of 14 shots, virtually all within a few feet of the basket.

"We got our usual performances out of Derek and Brandon," Garner said.

But that duo had quite a bit of help. Senior forward Damarcus Hence came off the bench to provide 18 points as he hit four of five 3-pointers.

"Damarcus gave us a big lift," Garner said.

So did junior forward Dainmon Gonner, the Indians' leading scorer for much of the season who has struggled during conference play. Gonner had 14 points, six rebounds and five assists.

"Dainmon played well," Garner said.

Said Gonner, "I've been trying to do what coach asks me, but it's been on me why I've been struggling. I just tried to play loose. We've all been loose the last couple of practices and we played that way tonight."

UTM was led by sophomore forward Jared Newson with 21 points. Junior guard Jeremy Kelly added 20 points.

"Martin has a bunch of really good athletes," Garner said.

And the Skyhawks showed off their athletic ability in the early going, running their way to a big early lead as they controlled most of the opening half.

The Skyhawks scored the game's first 10 points and led 22-9 12 minutes into the contest.

"What else is new. We always seem to get down by 10 or 12 points," Winans said, laughing.

Newson missed a breakaway dunk with four minutes left and UTM ahead 32-24. The play seemed to turn the momentum in Southeast's favor. The Indians got consecutive 3-pointers from Hence and Winans to make it 32-30.

After UTM went ahead 35-30, Winans scored the final five points of the half, including a 25-foot 3-pointer with five seconds left to make it 35-35 at the break.

Gonner's conventional three-point play 1:20 into the second half gave the Indians their first lead of the night at 38-35. They never lost the advantage, although things were far from easy.

Southeast controlled the second half but UTM hung tough and trailed just 64-58 with under eight minutes left. A 7-2 run put the Indians up 71-60 and their lead never dipped under seven the rest of the way. Southeast made 15 of 19 free throws -- Winans hit six of six -- in the final 3:05 to ice things.

"I thought we came out with a great start, but to SEMO's credit they didn't quit and got back in it in the first half," UTM coach Bret Campbell said. "I thought they exposed our post defense. Griffin had a good night."

The Indians host OVC power Murray State Saturday at 2 p.m.