INDIANS HAVE FINAL EXHIBITION TONIGHT

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians will have their final dress rehearsal tonight.

After that, the games begin to count for real.

A squad from Bulgaria is in Cape Girardeau to take on the Indians in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center.

The game will be Southeast's final exhibition contest before the Indians open the season Saturday at home against Division II Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Southeast routed the Dreambuilders 81-60 in its first exhibition game Thursday night.

"We're going to approach this final exhibition game the same way we did the first one," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "We want to win the game, but we're not going to prepare for our opponent. We're going to worry about our team and try to play as many people as possible."

Garner was able to do that against the Dreambuilders, a group of former collegiate players from Des Moines, Iowa. Southeast scored the game's first nine points and was never threatened, which allowed Garner to take a look at everybody.

"That was a good game for us, because we even got to let our walkons play," Garner said. "They work hard in practice like everybody else and it's nice to reward them with playing time."

Although Garner saw plenty of rough edges in Thursday's game, he came away more pleased than unhappy.

"There were a lot of good signs," said Garner. "Naturally, there were some bad signs. There are always going to be at this time of the year. But there were a lot of positives.

"The thing I really liked is we were very unselfish. We really played as a team. If we keep doing that, we're going to keep getting better and we'll have a chance to be a really good basketball team."

Six Southeast players scored eight or more points Thursday, with five reaching double figures.

Senior guard Cory Johnson had 16 points while senior center Bud Eley scored 13 and senior forward Demetrius Watson contributed 12.

Two newcomers -- junior forwards Roderick Johnson and Mike Branson -- both scored 10 points while another newcomers, sophomore point guard Jeramy Biles added eight.

The Bulgarian squad has struggled in its American tour so far, losing several games, including 96-61 to Creighton and 88-72 to Chicago State.

Garner said he has to guard against trying to have the Indians get too much better too quickly.

"We just have to take our time and get better," he said. "As a coach, you have to guard against trying to get better too quick. We have to take it slow and make sure we're covering everything that needs to be covered."