INDIANS REFUESE TO COME UP SHORT AGAINST TALLER TIGERS

SALT LAKE CITY -- It was well documented how LSU had a huge size advantage over Southeast Missouri State going into Thursday's NCAA Tournament first-round game.

But the inches disappeared on the stat sheet.

LSU, which had at least a two-inch advantage over every Southeast starter, outrebounded the Indians 36-35.

But Southeast coach Gary Garner was more concerned about the offensive rebounds going into the game.

Amazingly, Southeast held a 14-9 advantage on the offensive boards.

Roderick Johnson led the Indians with 11 rebounds and outplayed everybody on the floor, including highly touted Stromile Swift (13 points, five rebounds) and Jabari Smith (17 points, four rebounds).

Southeast center Brian Bunche played well defensively and pulled down seven rebounds which was also more than LSU's frontcourt duo.

"We had a lot of different things we wanted to accomplish on the defensive end of the floor, but our guys really stayed focused and really did every little thing that I asked them to do."

Said Johnson, "We played LSU tough because we followed our game plan. We had a great game plan coming into the game. Our defense is what brought us here and without that we wouldn't even be here."

LSU coach John Brady said he thought Southeast won the war from six feet in.

"I didn't think we played with a lot of energy around the goal," Brady said. "Within six feet of the goal we weren't as good as we need to be. We only outrebounded that team by one and we have a distinct height advantage and we're more athletic. That shows you right there that they executed better than we did and played with a lot more energy than we did today."

* Mike Branson may have struggled offensively (1-of-7) from the floor, but his one field goal was the most emphatic of the game.

Following a double-pump jam by Swift, which gave LSU a 56-55 lead, Branson returned the favor by climbing the ladder for a resounding two-handed dunk in Swift's face.

Branson led Southeast with five assists.

* Southeast took another major step forward in building its reputation with its down-to-the-wire loss to LSU. The Indians, who have played on ESPN, ESPN 2 and Fox Sports South this season, played one of its best games of the year on CBS.

"This game will help our program," said Garner. "We are a relatively young Division I program and the national exposure that we will get from playing a very good LSU team right to the wire can do nothing but help us."

* The team plans to do some sight-seeing today. The flight back to St. Louis will not leave Salt Lake City until midnight. The team is scheduled to arrive back in Cape Girardeau between 6:30 and 7 a.m. Saturday.

* LSU didn't help its cause by making just eight of its 15 free throws for the game.