INDIANS HOPEFUL ROAD WILL YIELD WIN

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- Based on what has happened to them at home so far in Ohio Valley Conference play, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians probably don't mind hitting the road as they attempt to revive their fading hopes of an upper-division league finish.

The Indians, reeling from two consecutive conference losses at the Show Me Center -- and just 1-4 at home in league play so far -- will try their hand at the Eblen Center tonight as they face OVC co-leader Tennessee Tech in a 7:30 tipoff.

"Our record on the road the last two years is very good, so we know we can play well on the road," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "We've won two out of three years there (at Tech) and we feel like we can win this one."

The Indians certainly need a victory in order to give them a major shot in the arm as they enter a week of three consecutive road games that will also feature contests at Murray State Thursday and Tennessee-Martin Saturday.

Southeast, 13-9 overall, is 4-6 in OVC play and tied for sixth in the nine-team league. Tech, 13-7 overall, is 8-2 in the conference and tied for first place with Eastern Illinois.

Garner has talked often about teams needing to protect their home court in order to have a chance at winning a conference title in any league. So far, the Indians and Golden Eagles have been a study in contrast in that department.

While Southeast has managed just one victory in five OVC home games, Tech is 5-0 in league play at the Eblen Center.

"You're always going to lose games on the road in any conference," Garner said. "But Tech has been able to win at home and we haven't."

More than not being able to win at home, however, Garner pointed out that the Indians simply haven't been able to finish out games, which is why they've lost so many close contests in OVC play.

The four home league defeats by Southeast have been by a total of 11 points, including a trio of two-pointers. One of those was a 70-68 setback to Tech on Dec. 9.

"We can talk about a lot of different things, and there are a lot of different reasons why we're 4-6 in the league and 1-4 at home in the league," said Garner. "But it really comes down to not finishing games. In all four of the conference games we've lost at home, we've been ahead late.

"For whatever reason, we haven't been able to finish. If we win those four, we're tied for first in the league. But we're not, so I guess right now we're just not good enough. We're close, but whether we can get over the hump remains to be seen."

Garner emphasized that, while everybody associated with the program is frustrated, nobody is about to give up on the season, which still has seven games remaining, plus the OVC Tournament.

"The coaches, the players, the fans, everybody is frustrated," he said. "But we haven't lost our confidence that we can still make something out of this season."

Tech coach Jeff Lebo is the first to acknowledge that there is not a whole lot of difference between many of the OVC teams this season. He knows that a few different plays here or there and the Indians could be sitting where the Eagles are.

"The conference is very, very tight," Lebo said. "Any team can beat any team on any given night. There is a very fine line between the bottom and the top.

"Made shots, missed shots, the ball bounces one way, stickbacks, there's just a fine line between winning and losing. SEMO is certainly a very talented team. They've lost a lot of tough games."

For the Indians not to lose another tough game tonight, Garner believes they'll have to keep Tech power forward Larrie Smith from going crazy on the boards.

Smith, somewhat undersized at 6-foot-5, is the OVC's top rebounder with an average of just over nine per game and he also leads the league in offensive rebounding at nearly four a contest. Smith is Tech's leading scorer at 16.1 points per game.

"My No. 1 concern is Larrie Smith rebounding the ball," Garner said. "He's a great offensive rebounder and he's the main reason they're a good rebounding team. He's like Roderick Johnson was for us last year."

The Eagles are outrebounding their opponents by an average of nearly four per game and they also are forcing several more turnovers per contest than the opposition, two items that Garner feels have been the keys to their success.

"They do a great job in the turnover and rebounding areas," he said. "That's where they're beating people."

Two other double-figure scorers for the Eagles are sophomore guards Leigh Gayden (12.6 ppg) and Brent Jolly (11.7 ppg).