INDIANS READY FOR FOURTH-PLACE SHOWDOWN; SEMO VISITS AUSTIN PEAY TONIGHT IN KEY GAME

Armed with plenty of confidence after two impressive home victories, Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians will now venture back out on the road for an important three-game swing.

First up is a fourth-place Ohio Valley Conference showdown against Austin Peay tonight. The squads will square off in a 7 o'clock tipoff in Clarksville, Tenn.

The Indians (10-10 overall, 6-6 OVC) are in fifth place in the 10-team league, just one-half game behind the Governors (11-8, 6-5 OVC).

Finishing at least fourth in the final OVC standings is important because the top four teams earn first-round home games for the conference tournament.

"I guess you could call it a showdown," said Southeast coach Gary Garner of tonight's game. "It's a really big game for us, but they're all big the rest of the way."

While the Indians still have a lot of work to do in order to finish fourth, they at least set themselves up for a strong run at it by putting together two consecutive big performances at home, first routing Morehead State 99-79 Thursday night and then drilling Eastern Kentucky 97-78 Saturday night.

Southeast shot better than 55 percent from the field and better than 80 percent from the free-throw line in both games. They also hit 28 3-point shots, including a school-record 15 Saturday night.

"Those were two very good, consistent performances by us," said Garner. "We played really well both games and we had so many people play well, our starters and the guys coming off the bench."

Among many stars for the Indians in the past two games was junior guard Cory Johnson, who scored 42 points and hit 10 of 15 3-pointers.

Johnson, who leads the OVC in free-throw percentage (87 percent) and 3-pointers per game (3.6), was named the OVC Newcomer of the Week. He is averaging 14.7 points per game.

"Cory really shot the ball well, but I guess we've come to expect that out of him," Garner said. "He's just a great shooter."

Junior center David Montgomery scored 36 points in the two games while junior point guard Kahn Cotton added 34 and ran the team almost flawlessly.

Montgomery, averaging 10.2 points per game, is tied for first in OVC field-goal percentage at 62 percent. Cotton is averaging 12.4 points a contest.

Even though the Indians were strong in winning their last two games, getting a victory tonight will be a major challenge. Austin Peay has won 18 of its last 19 games played in the Dunn Center and the Governors are coming off a 85-65 romp past Tennessee State Saturday night.

Freshman guard James Stewart made his first career start against Tennessee State and poured in a game-high 25 points. Stewart is averaging 19.2 points per game over the last five contests and the Govs are 4-1 during that stretch.

Junior forward Jerome Jackson leads the Governors overall offensively with nearly 13 points per game while senior center Reggie Crenshaw and senior guard Joe Sibbitt both contribute about 11 points a contest. Sibbitt has made 52 3-pointers.

"It seems like every game right now is more important than the previous one," said Austin Peay coach Dave Loos. "We're going to need the same effort we had for Tennessee State against SEMO."

The Indians beat the Govs 73-61 on Dec. 6 at the Show Me Center. A win tonight would give Southeast the tie-breaker edge if the squads would end up deadlocked for fourth place.

But Garner knows it's going to take quite an effort to pull it off.

"They're a solid ballclub and they are just so tough at home," he said. "We're going to need an outstanding effort, but I think our guys really feel good about the way we're playing."

Following tonight's game, the Indians will play at Tennessee Tech Thursday night and at Middle Tennessee Saturday afternoon.

SEMO at Austin Peay

7 p.m., Clarksville, Tenn.

Probable Starters

SEMO (10-10, 6-6 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Calvert White F Sr. 6-4 9.7

Nathan Owen F Fr. 6-2 4.2

David Montgomery C Jr. 6-8 10.2

Cory Johnson G Jr. 6-0 14.7

Kahn Cotton G Jr. 5-10 12.4

AP (11-8, 6-5 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Jerome Jackson F Jr. 6-5 12.6

James Stewart F Fr. 6-5 8.3

Reggie Crenshaw C Sr. 6-7 11.2

Joe Sibbitt G Sr. 6-0 10.9

J.J. Halliburton G So. 5-8 5.3

Series: SEMO leads 9-7

Radio: K103-FM