INDIANS GET CHRISTMAS WISH, UNWRAP WIN OVER BRADLEY

PEORIA, Ill. -- It's certain to be a wonderful Christmas for Gary Garner and his Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball team.

The Indians made sure of that Wednesday night as they picked up their second straight win over a preseason conference favorite, holding off a furious late Bradley rally to prevail 65-60 in front of 9,326 fans at Carver Arena.

Southeast improved to 8-1 while Bradley, picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference championship, fell to 4-5.

"It's going to be a very, very merry Christmas," said Garner with a big smile. "You cannot have a better Christmas present than that.

"To go on the road and beat the team picked to win the Missouri Valley Conference title, it's just a huge win for us. I am so proud of the guys."

The Indians were able to prevail despite seeing a late 18-point lead almost totally evaporate as the Braves pulled to within a point in the closing seconds.

But Southeast hit all six of its free throws in the final 20 seconds to hold off the Braves.

"I don't care what kind of lead we had, you know they're coming back. They're just too good a team not to," Garner said. "I'm not upset with us at all. I was proud of the way we were able to hold on."

As might be expected, Southeast's locker room contained all kinds of whooping and hollering after the game.

"It's a huge win. I'm speechless," said forward Mike Branson. "I knew they would come back. This is Division I basketball and they're a good team. But it's great the way we were able to hold on."

Guard Amory Sanders made special mention of the fact that a local newspaper article had questioned the Indians' schedule so far.

"And they say we don't play nobody," said a smiling Sanders.

Sanders led the Indians with 16 points as he hit four of five 3-pointers. Branson was Southeast's only other double-figure scorer with 13 points.

But the Indians got huge lifts from a host of other players.

Brian Bunche was again a terror on the boards with 11 rebounds as Southeast outrebounded Bradley 39 to 32.

"Brian Bunche was awesome. I mean awesome," said Garner.

Emmanuel McCuthison came off the bench to score nine points, including seven straight during a key second-half stretch.

Michael Stokes also had nine points and handled Bradley's pressure extremely well.

"Everybody contributed," Garner said.

Bradley had just one double-figure scorer as standout guard Rob Dye pumped in 27 points.

Southeast led 27-23 at halftime despite seeing Bradley score the game's first seven points.

Branson broke the ice with a 15-footer 3:35 into the game, Sanders drilled a 3-pointer and Bunche tipped in a miss to pull the Indians into a 7-7 tie 5:16 into the game.

The lead changed hands several times after that before Southeast used a 5-0 run to open up an advantage it would not relinquish the remainder of the half.

Two Stokes free throws with 5:07 remaining put the Indians up 21-19 and Sanders drained a 3-pointer to make it 24-19 with 4:29 left.

Southeast grabbed its biggest lead of the opening 20 minutes when Bunche hit a 17-footer with 1:36 left that made it 27-21.

The Indians scored the first basket of the second half to go up 29-23, but Bradley soon pulled to within 29-27.

Southeast then stunned the home crowd with a quick 8-0 burst. Sanders nailed consecutive 3-pointers and Branson hit a 15-footer with 14:06 left to give the Indians a 37-27 advantage.

Branson buried a 3-pointer at the 12:16 mark to put the Indians on top 42-31.

McCuthison then scored Southeast's next seven points as the Indians pulled away even further.

First, McCuthison's acrobatic reverse layup in traffic with 8:32 remaining opened up a 44-32 Southeast lead. He then hit a 3-pointer to make it 47-32 and his driving shot with 6:30 left gave the Indians a 49-32 bulge.

Roderick Johnson's basket at the 5:10 mark gave the Indians their biggest lead of the night at 51-33.

Bradley pulled to within 51-37, but McCuthison scored on another drive to make it 53-37.

Dye's 3-pointer with 3:03 remaining cut Southeast's lead to 53-41.

Southeast still led by 12 at 55-43 after two Sanders free throws with 2:39 left.

But, with Bradley forced to foul, the Indians made just one of their next four free throws and they missed two front ends of one-and-one situations.

Throw in a couple of turnovers and it all added up to a huge rally by the Braves, who pulled to within 56-52 with 1:05 left on a drive by David Selby.

Stokes made two free throws with 1:02 left to put Southeast up 58-52, but Dye's long 3-pointer with 50 seconds left pulled the Braves to within 58-55.

Stokes hit one of two foul shots with 47 seconds left, but Eric Roberson made two free throws after being fouled on an offensive rebound with 37 seconds left to make it 59-57.

Branson was then ruled to have been tied up by a Bradley player in the backcourt, giving the ball to the Braves on the possession arrow. Jerome Robinson was fouled with 27.5 seconds left and he made one of two to pull Bradley within 59-58.

Then the Indians stiffened. Branson made two free throws with 19.4 seconds left for a 61-58 lead.

After Dye missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game, Nyah Jones made two foul shots with 10 seconds left to make it 63-58.

Dye's basket with 4.6 seconds remaining pulled the Braves to within 63-60, but Stokes iced the win by making two free throws with three seconds left.