INDIANS HOPE TO USE MARTIN AS MEMORY E-RACER

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner has a philosophy about handling adversity that he imparts to his team often.

"We have a saying, `It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it,' " said Garner.

Garner will find out quickly if the Indians have truly taken that saying to heart because they are coming off a heartbreaking 71-70 loss to Murray State Thursday night as the Racers hit an incredible shot with one-tenth of a second remaining.

Tonight, in a 7:30 tipoff at the Show Me Center, Southeast closes out a three-game Ohio Valley Conference homestand by facing Tennessee-Martin.

"This team has been really mentally tough all season and they've handled just about everything very well," said Garner. "As tough as the loss (to Murray State) was, I'm confident we'll be able to put it behind us and come back with a good performance.

"We've concentrated all season on just taking it one game at a time and we've been very good at doing that so far."

Despite Thursday's tough loss, in which Southeast battled back from a 15-point halftime deficit to take a late lead, the Indians still look pretty good as far the OVC standings are concerned.

At 7-1 in league play, and 10-6 overall, second-place Southeast is still only one-half game behind 7-0 Murray State. And because of Tennessee-Martin's upset win at Eastern Illinois Thursday night, Eastern's third-place Panthers fell to 5-3 -- putting them a full two games behind the Indians.

"Our goal is to win the conference championship and that hasn't changed. There is still so much basketball left to be played," Garner said. "But even if you don't win the championship, you want to finish as high as possible to get the best possible seeding for the conference tournament. And you definitely want to get a home game (in the conference tournament)."

The top eight finishers in the 10-team OVC gain berths in the league's postseason tournament, with the top four finishers earning first-round home games. The semifinals and championship game are then played in Nashville, Tenn.

But that's still a long way off. The Indians still have 10 OVC games left, starting with tonight's contest against UT-Martin that will signal the midway point of the league season for Southeast.

"Every conference game is so important," said Garner. "To have a chance to win a championship in any league, you really have to protect your home court."

Garner has plenty of respect for the Skyhawks, even though they have struggled much of the season and are just 4-10 overall, 2-5 in OVC play, which puts them in an eighth-place tie.

For one thing, the Skyhawks posted a huge win Thursday night when they stunned Eastern Illinois 83-75 in overtime.

When Garner, just minutes after his team's loss Thursday night, was informed of UT-Martin's upset victory, he asked rhetorically, "Is this a crazy game?"

And although the Skyhawks have not been one of the OVC's better teams in recent years, they have always proven to be extremely dangerous. A case in point is last year's game between the Indians and Skyhawks in Martin, Tenn., as Southeast suffered a 91-82 loss. The Indians won the rematch at the Show Me Center 87-61.

"They're not a team we can overlook," Garner said.

The Skyhawks are led by a pair of talented inside players in 6-foot-9 senior center Ryan DeMichael and 6-8 senior forward Joe Crumby.

DeMichael averages 14.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game while Crumby contributes 12.2 points per contest. DeMichael scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the win over Eastern Illinois.

"They have a great player in DeMichael. He's really good. And so is Crumby," said Garner. "Those two are the strength of their team."

UT-Martin also has a dangerous outside shooter in 6-2 senior guard Jason Ohlsen. He's only averaging 8.8 points a contest but last year lit up the Indians for 31 points during the Skyhawks' win over Southeast.

"He had a huge game against us last year," said Garner.

Southeast's big comeback against Murray State Thursday night was fueled by a host of players and it was senior guard Kahn Cotton who scored the Indians' final nine points, including a tough eight-foot baseline shot with 5.6 seconds left to put the Tribe ahead 70-69.

But the Racers' Aubrey Reese drove the length of the court, spun past two Southeast defenders and, from just inside the free-throw line, threw up a shot that banked in with less than a second to play.

"He hit an incredible shot, but we've just got to put it behind us," Garner said.

Tonight, Garner will find out just how successful the Indians were at doing that.

Tennessee-Martin at SEMO

7:30 p.m., Show Me Center

Probable Starters

SEMO (10-6, 7-1 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Mike Branson F Jr. 6-6 11.1

Roderick Johnson F Jr. 6-7 10.6

Bud Eley C Sr. 6-10 14.7

Cory Johnson G Sr. 6-0 10.9

Kahn Cotton G Sr. 5-10 7.8

Tennessee-Martin (4-10, 2-5 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Joe Crumby F Sr. 6-8 12.2

Sean Griffin F So. 6-1 5.1

Ryan DeMichael C Sr. 6-9 14.8

Jason Ohlsen G Sr. 6-2 8.8

Andrae Betts G Fr. 5-9 8.6

Series: SEMO leads 26-13

Last Meeting: SEMO won 87-61 last season

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