INDIANS RIGHT OVC's TOP SHIP; SOUTHEAST JUMPS ON MTSU EARLY, CRUISES TO 76-56 WIN

Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner stressed how important it was for his team to start strong Tuesday night as it attempted to snap a two-game losing streak and cool off the Ohio Valley Conference's hottest squad.

The Indians evidently got the message and then some.

Southeast, playing suffocating defense early, scored 23 of the game's first 26 points and blistered Middle Tennessee State 76-56 in front of 5,363 fans at the Show Me Center.

The Indians, remaining perfect in 12 home games this season, improved their overall record to 17-5 and their OVC mark to 10-3 as they retained their half-game lead over Murray State in the tight league race.

MTSU, which had a five-game winning streak snapped, fell to 10-11 overall and 6-7 in OVC play.

"I thought getting off to a great start was critical and we really did that," said Garner. "Any time you come off two losses, you're concerned a little bit about your confidence.

"We talked to the team about how aggressive we had to be, especially at the start of the game."

Southeast's aggressiveness took the Raiders right out of their offense. MTSU scored just three points over the first 12:06 of the contest. By that time, the Raiders trailed 23-3 and they never got closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

"We've had some good defensive games, but that might have been our best defensive effort of the season," Garner said. "I really felt like we took their offense away from them."

MTSU coach Randy Wiel felt the same way.

"Defensively, they did a very good job," said Wiel. "We missed some shots early and they made four or five. We were looking at a hole right away and they're a hard team to come back against, with the way they play defense.

"So far, I think they're the best team in the league. And we caught them at a bad time, after two straight losses."

Roderick Johnson led the Indians offensively with 17 points. Mike Branson, hitting three of six 3-pointers, scored 15 points.

Michael Stokes rounded out Southeast's double-figure scorers with 11 points as he hit both of his 3-point attempts. Antonio Short and Emmanuel McCuthison each added eight points while Nyah Jones had seven.

"We wanted to get off to a good start and defend our home court," said Stokes.

Said Short, "Defense was the key. We didn't give them any good looks."

Short led Southeast in assists with four while he, Johnson and Brian Bunche all had two of the Indians' nine blocked shots. Bunche led the rebounders with eight.

Johnny Cobb paced MTSU with 14 points while Lee Nosse added 12. The Raiders' leading scorer, Fernando Ortiz, had just two points and missed all seven of his shots from the field.

While strong defensively, the Indians were also solid offensively as they hit 22 of 43 shots for 51 percent. MTSU shot just 29 percent on 14 of 48.

Branson buried a 3-pointer and then drove for a basket, which was followed by a Short 3-pointer as the Indians went ahead 8-0 three minutes into the game.

It was 8-2 when the Indians reeled off eight straight points as the rout began to form.

Southeast led 23-3 after two free throws by Jones, and a Short 3-pointer with just under four minutes left gave the Indians their biggest first-half lead at 32-9.

MTSU rallied briefly to pull within 35-20 at halftime. But Southeast scored the first four points of the second half and quickly built its lead to 48-25. The Raiders could get no closer than 16 points after that and the Indians led by as many as 24 twice.

"I was really pleased with the way we came out focused tonight," Garner said. "I say it all the time, but we just have to take it one game at a time."

That means Garner will be looking for another focused performance Thursday night when Tennessee-Martin visits the Show Me Center for a 7:30 tipoff.

"We have to come out ready to play Thursday, like we were tonight," said Garner.

Then comes the big nationally televised OVC showdown with Murray State Saturday afternoon, but Stokes said, "We're not going to think about that until after we play Tennessee-Martin."