INDIANS MANAGE TO ARRIVE IN TIME FOR TOURNAMENT

EL PASO, Texas -- It was quite a chore, but Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team was finally able to get here Wednesday in time for the first round of the Sierra Providence SunClassic Tournament.

Then the road-weary Indians went out and saw a second-half rally fall short as Houston posted a 69-64 victory.

Houston (3-7) and tournament host Texas-El Paso (8-1) will square off tonight at about 10 o'clock CST for the championship. Southeast (7-4) and Jackson State (0-11) will play at 8 p.m. for third place.

UTEP routed Jackson State, like Southeast an NCAA Tournament team from last season, 101-81 in Wednesday's other first-round game.

Southeast's travel ordeals began early Tuesday when severe weather virtually shut down the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, where the Indians were supposed to fly from St. Louis before changing airplanes and continuing on to El Paso.

With the DFW Airport scheduled to be shut down for much of the rest of the week, and with virtually no other available flights into El Paso, the chances appeared slim that the Indians would be able to get to El Paso in time for the first round, although they were at least going to try and make it by today in order to play in the consolation game.

But early Wednesday morning, barely enough seats on two different flights were finally secured in order for the Southeast players and coaches -- minus various support personnel, including the team trainer and managers, along with fourth-leading scorer Amory Sanders, who is out with a foot injury -- to make it in time for the Indians' first-round game.

A few of the Indians got to El Paso early in the afternoon, but the majority of the squad didn't arrive until late in the afternoon, leaving little time for anything but checking into the team hotel, grabbing a quick meal and getting ready for the game against Houston.

As for that contest, which did not start until about 35 minutes past its original 10 p.m. CST tipoff time because the opener between UTEP and Jackson State lasted more than two hours, Southeast started slowly as Houston was able to build a nice first-half lead.

Southeast led only once in the opening half, at 8-7 in the early moments. Houston took control with a 12-0 run that gave the Cougars a 19-8 advantage.

The Cougars also led by 11 points at 24-13 before the Indians made a late run to pull within six at the intermission.