INDIANS GET COLD SHOULDER IN CELLAR; LAST-PLACE EKU BEATS SE 84-76

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team left Cape Girardeau Friday hoping to climb in the Ohio Valley Conference standings against the two worst squads -- record-wise -- in the league.

Instead, the Indians limped back home early this morning with an 0-2 mark to show for their longest road trip of the OVC season.

The Indians fell behind by 17 points Monday night and, despite another furious late rally, never could fully recover as Eastern Kentucky posted an 84-76 victory in front of 1,200 fans at McBrayer Arena.

Southeast has never beaten EKU at McBrayer, falling to 0-6 in games on the Colonels' home court.

The Indians, who also fell behind big Saturday night during an 83-80 loss at Morehead State, are now 10-15 overall and 7-7 in OVC play after suffering their third straight defeat.

Southeast, which just three games ago faced Murray State in a first-place OVC battle, is now in sixth place in the 10-team league.

EKU, which Saturday ended a 10-game losing streak by beating Eastern Illinois, improved to 6-16 overall and 4-10 in the league as the Colonels remained in last place.

"Again we came out flat early. We didn't come out with the intensity we needed," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "We didn't decide we wanted to play until we fell 16, 18 points behind, just like at Morehead."

Bud Eley led the Indians offensively with 21 points. David Montgomery came off the bench to score 14 points and grab nine rebounds while Calvert White added 13 points.

Daniel Sutton paced the Colonels with 21 points and Aaron Cecil scored 19.

Defense -- or a lack of it -- was one of the Indians' primary problems against EKU. The Colonels met with little resistance much of the night as they put on a virtual offensive clinic against a Southeast defense that appeared to be operating in slow motion.

Feeding off a steady diet of dunks, layups and wide-open jumpers, the Colonels blistered the nets at a 54-percent rate as they hit 28 of 52 shots from the field.

Conversely, the Indians struggled offensively, hitting just 24 of 59 for 41 percent.

The Colonels hit 19 of 31 first-half shots (61 percent) as they opened up a 45-31 lead after 20 minutes. Southeast was just 10 of 29 (35 percent) in the first half.

"I thought we allowed a lot of easy stuff in the first half," Shumate said. "We tried to press them early and we weren't stopping any penetration.

"We gave up a lot of easy baskets. When you're shooting layups, you can shoot a good percentage."

EKU scored the game's first four points and never trailed. The Colonels built a 23-13 lead less than eight minutes in, saw Southeast close within 23-22 and then pulled away to their 14-point halftime bulge.

The Colonels went ahead by 17 points, 50-33, early in the second half.

Although the Indians rallied some, EKU managed to keep a double-digit lead for the first 10-plus minutes of the final half.

But then all of a sudden the Indians improved their defense dramatically and started hitting the boards with a fury as they charged back.

Trailing 65-55, Montgomery's basket and free throw with 7:09 left started an 8-0 run that ended with a Reggie Crisp follow shot that pulled Southeast within 65-63 at the 4:33 mark.

Montgomery hit two free throws with 4:16 left as Southeast sliced its deficit to 66-65.

Then EKU got a monster lift off the bench from sophomore guard Chris Fitzgerald, seeing his first action of the night.

Fitzgerald's 3-point shot built EKU's lead up to 69-65, but Eley answered with a conventional three-point play to again make it a one-point game, 69-68.

Fitzgerald then drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer with 3:18 left to make it 72-68. And just seconds later, he came up with a steal, which led to a Sutton basket at the 2:26 mark as the Colonels went ahead 74-68.

The Indians drew within three points twice more, at 75-72 on two Crisp free throws with 1:09 left and at 77-74 on an Eley follow shot with 12.6 seconds remaining.

With the clock still showing 12.6 seconds, EKU effectively put the game away.

First, Cecil hit two free throws to make it 79-74. Then the Indians were hit with a technical foul after calling a timeout they apparently did not have, although Southeast argued vehemently that it did have one left. But the official play-by-play sheet after the game showed that the Indians had indeed used up their full allotment of timeouts.

Fitzgerald hit both free throws on the technical to make it 81-74 and EKU retained possession. The Colonels made three more free throws -- taking advantage of another Southeast technical, this one on Eley -- to go ahead by 10 and seal the victory.

"Once we did get back in the game, we made some mistakes late that hurt us," said Shumate. "We have to play a little smarter and a little better."

Southeast will be back in action Saturday night when Tennessee Tech visits the Show Me Center.