INDIANS `HUNGARY' FOR ANOTHER EXHIBITION WIN

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner was generally pleased with the way his team performed during its first exhibition game, a 97-80 win over Dream Builders on Monday night.

Tonight, Garner hopes to come away satisfied again -- and see even more progress -- when the Indians play their second and final exhibition game, taking on Albacomp of Hungary in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff at the Show Me Center.

"I saw a lot of positive things in the first (exhibition) game and hopefully we'll continue to improve and get better in this one," said Garner. "These exhibition games are really good for us because you can learn so many more things about your team than you can in practice.

"Right now, the biggest thing is for us to keep improving in practices and games. We just need time, but I think we're really coming along. In this game, we just want to continue to get better."

Tonight's opponent should provide the Indians with a good taste of what going up against a large team will be like.

Garner has said all along that probably his team's major weakness is a lack of overall size inside, with just three players taller than 6-feet-7.

Albacomp is extremely big, with six players standing at least 6-8, including three at 6-10 and one 7-footer.

"We just don't have a lot of size," Garner said. "They (Albacomp) will be a very big team, which should help us get ready for Colorado (Sunday's season-opening opponent), which will be pretty big."

Albacomp should also provide the Indians with plenty of competition in addition to being tall. The team is regarded as one of the top two professional squads in Hungary and features several former stars at American colleges.

"I think they'll be another good test for us," said Garner.

Two Southeast players, Bud Eley and Travis Smith, were on the Indians' team that played in the Albacomp Cup Tournament in Hungary during the summer of 1996. Southeast went 1-2 in the tournament and did not officially meet Albacomp, the tourney winner.

Southeast did face Albacomp for one half on the day of arrival in Hungary. Albacomp outscored the Indians 48-44, with Eley scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds during that half of action.

Eley, the Indians' 6-foot-10 center who averaged 17.9 points and 10.3 rebounds per game last season, had 20 points in Monday's exhibition game.

The other four players who started Monday also scored in double figures: Calvert White had 18, Cory Johnson 17, Kahn Cotton 13 and David Montgomery 10.

Garner plans to start that same group again tonight and will also once again let most of his other players see plenty of action.

Southeast has 10 scholarship players including Lakeo Keller, who is being held out of games and practices for at least the next two weeks while he works on rehabilitating a knee that has been slow to respond after surgery.

"I think in today's basketball, you need at least eight or nine players," Garner said.