INDIANS HOPE TO E-RACE UPSET AT MURRAY ST.

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team will try to bounce back in Ohio Valley Conference play for the first time this season.

And, as fate would have it, the Indians' attempt to rebound will come against their OVC arch-rivals, the Murray State Racers.

The Indians and Racers, who waged two classic battles last season, will tip things off at 7 tonight at the Regional Special Events Center in Murray, Ky. The game will be televised locally on cable channel 33 in Cape Girardeau and Jackson only.

And, the rivalry aside, two interesting and lengthy streaks will be on the line tonight.

One is a Southeast streak for futility against Murray State. The Indians have dropped 15 straight games to the Racers, the last win for the Tribe coming late in the 1991-92 season, which was Southeast's first campaign on the Division I level.

The other is a 47-game home winning streak by the Racers, which is the nation's longest. Murray State last tasted defeat on its own floor way back on Feb. 26, 1996, when Austin Peay prevailed 80-65 at the old Racer Arena.

It certainly shapes up as quite a challenge for a Southeast squad coming off its first OVC loss of the season, a 75-66 upset defeat at Tennessee-Martin Thursday night.

But Southeast coach Gary Garner is hoping the Indians can put that setback behind them and turn in a big-time effort against the Racers which is what it will take for Southeast to have a shot at springing the upset.

"Naturally, needless to say, we'll have to play extremely well and shoot the ball well," said Garner. "How will Thursday's game affect us? I really don't know. We'll just have to wait and see."

First place in the OVC will be on the line tonight. Murray State, 10-4 overall, leads the league at 3-0. Southeast, 11-3 overall, is a second-place 4-1 in the conference.

"Everybody knows how big a game this is," Garner said. "There should be a great crowd and I know we're going to have a lot of fans there."

Murray State's credentials as the OVC's kingpin is unquestioned. The Racers have won 11 of the past 12 OVC regular-season titles and have captured three straight league tournament championships. Murray State has nabbed the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament seven times since 1990.

But last season, Southeast nearly took that automatic berth away from Murray State. The Indians appeared on their way to a thrilling OVC Tournament championship-game victory until Aubrey Reese hit a near-miraculous shot at the buzzer to stun Southeast 62-61.

During the 1998-99 regular season, Reese also hit an extremely difficult shot at the buzzer to beat Southeast 71-70 at the Show Me Center. The other regular-season meeting went to the Racers 62-52 in Murray.

"I know one thing. We've seen enough of Aubrey Reese," said a laughing Garner, who added in a more serious tone, "He's a great player and he made two great shots against us. You have to hand it to him.

"We had two great games with them last year, and even the game at Murray was really good. Whenever the game comes down to the very end, so many things can happen."

Reese, the Racers' dazzling 6-foot senior point guard who earned OVC Tournament MVP honors last season, has picked up right where he left off, averaging 20.5 points, 5.7 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting better than 40 percent from 3-point range. Reese leads the OVC in assists.

Also picking up where he left off last season is 6-6 senior forward Isaac Spencer, the OVC's preseason player of the year who is certainly living up to that billing so far. Spencer leads the OVC in scoring with 21 points per game Reese is second in the league while shooting 63 percent from the field. Spencer also is first in the OVC in rebounding at 9.1 a contest.

"You have to be able to control Spencer and Reese some way. They're the two leading scorers in the conference and they are very talented," said Garner. "But they also have three other very good players on the floor."

Ray Cunningham, a 6-5 junior guard, averages 11.1 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Mike Turner, a 6-8 senior center, has also been solid with averages of 9.4 points and five rebounds a contest. And 6-7 senior forward Rod Murray, although averaging just 5.9 points, can be dangerous.

"They are just very solid and talented all over the court," Garner said.

As evidence of that, Spencer scored just 13 points during Thursday's 83-69 win over Eastern Illinois. But Turner helped pick up the slack with 19 points and Reese was his usual brilliant self with 29 points.

For the Indians to have a chance at winning tonight, Garner knows they will not only have to slow down Spencer and Reese but also handle Murray State's pressure and control the Racers' vaunted fast break.

"We know they're going to press us. We'll have to be ready for it, and we've got to control their break. Those are the two main things," said Garner.

Losing at Tennessee-Martin Thursday was a major disappointment for the Indians. But Garner knows a win tonight would more than ease the pain of that upset defeat.

"It would definitely make up for Thursday night," he said.

And end a pair of long streaks in the process.