Indians face 'a must' against EKU

Hale brings hot hand into tonight's game against Colonels.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

If ever there was a must-win situation for Southeast Missouri State University, tonight is it.

"We've got to win this one," Southeast coach Gary Garner said.

And it would no doubt be a big boost for the Indians (9-13, 4-6 Ohio Valley Conference) when Eastern Kentucky (8-12, 2-7) visits the Show Me Center if Brett Hale continues his hot shooting.

Hale, a sophomore guard, has been on a big-time roll recently, even though the Indians have lost two straight to fall into seventh place in the nine-team OVC. Eastern Kentucky is in eighth place.

A former standout at Dexter High School, Hale is averaging nearly 22 points over his last three games, including a career-high 29 points during Tuesday's loss at Eastern Illinois.

During that hot stretch, Hale is shooting 69 percent from the field, nearly 60 percent from 3-point range and 100 percent from the free-throw line.

"Brett is really playing well," Garner said. "He's playing with so much confidence, that's the big thing."

Hale, who is Southeast's leading scorer in OVC play at 15.3 points per game and is the Indians' third-leading scorer on the season at 13.1, agrees with his coach.

"I've got a lot of confidence right now and that's really helping me out," he said. "I'm just feeling a lot more comfortable, and I have a lot of confidence when I shoot the ball."

Shooting has never been a problem for the 6-foot-3 Hale, who was known as one of the state's top pure shooters in high school.

Hale has done nothing to diminish that reputation at Southeast. Last year as a true freshman, despite getting off to a slow start, he wound up averaging 9.3 points to rank fourth on the team. He shot 39 percent from 3-point range and a sizzling 91 percent from the free-throw line.

This season, Hale is making 41 percent of his 3-pointers -- including 44 percent during conference play -- and he has made 48 of 51 free throws for a 94.1-percent mark that leads the OVC and would rank third nationally if he had enough attempts to qualify.

Hale, who has hit 20 consecutive foul shots, is on pace to break Cory Johnson's single-season school record for free-throw percentage of 92.6.

"I've coached a lot of good shooters, but Brett might be the best I've ever had," Garner said. "When he misses a free throw, you're really surprised."

What has particularly helped Hale during his recent hot stretch is his ability to drive toward the basket and hit pull-up jumpers when defenders crowd him around the 3-point line.

"Brett is such a great 3-point shooter, people have to come out really hard at him, and lately he's been taking it to the hole more," Garner said. "That's really helped his game."

Roberts sets record

Southeast sophomore point guard Kevin Roberts' 13 assists during Thursday's 79-69 loss to Morehead State broke a school single-game record that had stood for nearly 20 years.

Anthony "Butch" Hall had the previous assist mark of 12, set against Tennessee-Martin in 1984.

Roberts leads the OVC in assists with 6.14 per game and he is also first in assist-to-turnover ratio. Roberts has 129 assists and just 39 turnovers.

EKU much improved

Although Eastern Kentucky's record is still not impressive, the Colonels have improved considerably under third-year coach Travis Ford.

The Colonels' eight wins are their most since the 1997-98 season, which is also the last time they did not finish last in the OVC.

"I definitely feel we're making progress," Ford said. "We're close, we're knocking at the door. We're not playing bad basketball, we're just not winning."

Senior guard Shawn Fields, who started his career at Georgia, leads the Colonels with a 15-point average. Guard Matt Witt, one of the OVC's top freshmen, is next at 13.4.

"They're playing a lot better this year," Garner said. "You look at the scores, and most of the time they're not getting beat bad."

The Indians won the earlier meeting, 93-77 on Jan. 9 in Richmond, Ky., as Hale scored 27 points.