INDIANS FIND EAGLES' NEST STILL UNKIND; TECH HOLDS OFF INDIANS 86-82

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Forgive Ron Shumate if he doesn't much like coming to this town that he lived in for several years while attending college in the late 1950s.

Shumate, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball coach, starred in baseball and basketball at Tennessee Tech to earn a spot in the school's athletic hall of fame.

But things have not gone nearly as well for Shumate's teams in Cookeville since Southeast joined the Ohio Valley Conference six years ago.

Monday night, the Indians staged a furious second-half comeback but still lost for the fifth time in six meetings at the Eblen Center as the Eagles prevailed 86-82. It was Southeast's third straight defeat in Cookeville.

"This place hasn't been good to us over the last few years," said Shumate. "But tonight we had a great chance to win the ballgame but didn't make the plays when we had to."

Despite the loss, the Indians remained tied for first place in the OVC with a 5-2 record. Middle Tennessee State and Eastern Illinois are also 5-2 after MTSU's win over the Panthers Monday.

Southeast, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, fell to 8-10 overall. Tech is now 8-7 overall and 4-3 in the OVC.

"SEMO has an excellent team. I think they have the best talent in the league," said Tech coach Frank Harrell. "I thought it was a gutty defensive and rebounding effort on our part."

Calvert White led four Southeast players in double figures with 15 points, but he attempted just four shots from the field. Richard Lyte and Bud Eley both had 13 points while Allen Hatchett added 12.

Tech also placed four players in double figures, led by Curtis Wiggins with 16 points. Ryan Black had 14, Chris Turner 13 and Albert Wilson 10, including eight points in the final three minutes when the Eagles staged their own rally.

The Indians were lucky to be down just 43-38 at halftime. Southeast hit only six of 17 free-throw attempts in the opening 20 minutes. Take away White's four-for-five effort and the Indians were a miserable two of 12 from the line.

Still, the Indians were in relatively good shape at the break, thanks in large part to 50-percent shooting from the field (15 of 30).

Southeast led just once in the first half, at 4-3. The Indians fell behind by as many as 10 points at 30-20 and also trailed 43-35 before White's late basket and free throw sliced the deficit to five.

"I've always said athletics is such a mental thing and we just weren't ready to play tonight," said Shumate. "In the first half we weren't very focused. That's probably as poor a half as we've played all year. When you shoot six for 17 from the line, you're just not focused.

"But I was happy to be down only five points at halftime. I told the guys let's forget about it and go out and play the second half."

Tech scored the first eight points of the second half in under two minutes to go ahead 51-38 and the Eagles had two other 13-point leads at 53-40 and 58-45.

The Eagles still appeared to be in relatively good shape with a 68-61 lead and just over nine minutes to go.

But that's when the Indians stormed back with a 12-0 run. Lakeo Keller's 3-point basket with 7:30 left put Southeast ahead 69-68 for its first lead since the opening moments of the contest.

Just 30 seconds later, Keller's steal and layup made it 71-68. Eley's two free throws with 6:33 remaining capped the 12-point spurt to give the Indians their biggest lead of the night at 73-68.

Considering that Lorenzo Coleman, Tech's 7-foot-1 center, had just fouled out after getting only seven points and four rebounds, the Indians appeared to be in good shape.

But Eley, Southeast's 6-10 center, fouled out just seconds later to even out that situation.

Still, the Indians -- after Tech had pulled to within two -- were able to go back ahead 77-73 on two free throws by Lyte with 3:32 left.

But Tech then used a 6-0 run of its own -- fueled by Wilson -- to regain the lead. Wilson's two free throws tied the contest at 77, then his shot from just inside the foul line at the 2:06 mark put the Eagles ahead 79-77.

White made two free throws with 1:50 left to forge a 79-79 tie. But Turner's two foul shots with 1:26 left put the Eagles back on top 81-79.

Wilson's two free throws with 57 seconds remaining made it 83-79, but David Montgomery's basket and free throw at the 42-second mark pulled the Indians to within 83-82.

Wilson then came up with one of the game's biggest plays. Tech was working the shot clock when his runner in the lane with 13 seconds remaining put the Eagles on top 85-82.

Hatchett's 3-point try was way off the mark and Turner hit one of two foul shots with 1.5 seconds left to seal the victory.

"We were so methodical tonight, the only thing I knew was to get us in a full-court game," Shumate said. "We finally got the lead, but we made some bad decisions at the end.

"It's really a tough loss because we had a chance to win the game and we let it get away. This is one that may come back to haunt us later. We may think about it down the line."

The Indians will play their third straight road game Thursday night when they travel to Murray State. Then Southeast will have four straight contests at home.