Indians lock up OVC spot

It might be a down year for Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball, but the Indians are finishing the season on an upswing.

Putting together another in a recent string of impressive performances, the Indians closed out their home schedule Tuesday night with a 102-87 victory over Eastern Illinois in front of 4,082 fans at the Show Me Center.

The eighth-place Indians (6-20, 4-11) moved closer to clinching the eighth and final Ohio Valley Conference Tournament berth after they won for the third time in four games and scored 100 or more points for the first time since the 1995-96 season.

"We're playing with tremendous confidence," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "If you had told me this team could score 102 points against Eastern Illinois, I'd have asked what turnip truck you fell off of."

Southeast moved one game ahead of Eastern Kentucky in the battle for the eighth seed in the league tournament. The Indians have one game remaining -- Saturday night at Austin Peay -- while the Colonels have two games left, Thursday at Murray State and Saturday at Tennessee-Martin.

Since Southeast owns the tie-breaker over EKU by having swept the season series, the Colonels must win their final two games and have the Indians lose their finale to keep Southeast out of the tournament.

"Our confidence keeps getting higher and higher," Southeast redshirt freshman guard Derek Winans said. "We've really come together and we feel like we can do something in the tournament."

Winans did his part Tuesday to help the Indians overcome sensational EIU junior swingman Henry Domercant, the nation's second-leading scorer who bettered his average by 13 points with a 39-point outburst. Domercant, who hit five of 11 3-pointers, has scored 77 points in two games against Southeast this year.

"I don't know what to do against him," Garner said. "He's a great player."

Winans, playing the entire 40 minutes, appeared great himself with a career-high 32 points, 19 in the first half. He hit 11 of 21 shots from the field, including four of eight 3-pointers.

"I got some open looks and took advantage of it," Winans said.

Four other Indians scored in double figures. Drew DeMond had 17 points, Monte Gordon and Demetrius King each had 12 and Tim Scheer added 10. King led the rebounders with seven and DeMond had six.

"We have a lot of guys playing their best basketball of the year," Garner said.

That list could include walk-on freshman point guard Kevin Roberts, who received his first career start as Brett Hale missed the game with a calf injury suffered in practice on Monday.

Roberts had six points, six assists, three steals -- and no turnovers -- in 29 minutes. Over his past three games, Roberts has 17 assists and only two turnovers.

"I think we've become a family," Roberts said. "People are playing their roles and doing what it takes to win."

Said Garner, "I was really worried not having Brett tonight. But our most valuable player, other than Derek, might have been Kevin."

Even though the Indians won by 15 points, the contest was far from a rout. After trailing by eight midway in the first half, Southeast rallied for a 43-41 halftime lead.

EIU briefly surged back ahead 45-43 early in the final half, but the Indians took the lead for good on a Tim Scheer basket that made it 47-45.

The Indians stayed on top the rest of the way but could not shake the Panthers until the final four minutes. Leading by four, Southeast closed the game with a 19-8 run.

"I'm not going to fault our kids, you just have to hand it to SEMO," EIU coach Rick Samuels said. "They're really playing well."

Southeast shot 54.7 percent from the field (35 of 64), 89.3 from the free-throw line (25 of 28), had just 11 turnovers and held a 35-31 rebounding edge.

mmishow@semissourian.com

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