INDIANS RIP EAGLES, BOOST OVC LEAD

What transpired Thursday night in two communities less than 100 miles apart couldn't have been much sweeter for Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians.

First, in Cape Girardeau, the Indians won their fourth straight game as they hammered Morehead State 80-59 in front of 5,513 fans at the Show Me Center.

And just a short while after that contest had ended, the Indians got word of the outcome of a game in Murray, Ky. The final score: Middle Tennessee 81, Murray State 79.

Talk about a big night. Not only had the Indians remained in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference, they had gained a full game on the defending champion Racers.

Southeast, 15-3 overall, is now 8-1 in OVC play at the halfway point of the conference season. Murray State, 6-2, fell 1 1/2 games behind the Indians.

"That is a bonus," said a smiling Southeast coach Gary Garner when informed of the Racers' loss just as he was about to do his post-game radio show. "It really makes it a good night."

Said Southeast forward Roderick Johnson with a grin, "Murray getting beat. It's a big night for us."

It would have been a big night for the Indians even if Murray State had not gotten upset, because Southeast put on quite a performance in dismantling an Eagles' squad that had taken the Racers to overtime in its most recent outing.

But Thursday's game was never really a contest. The Indians took control toward the latter part of the first half to build a 35-24 halftime lead, then quickly boosted their advantage to 30 points early in the second half.

"Overall, I'm very pleased with our performance," Garner said.

There was plenty for Garner to be happy about, not the least of which was Southeast's eight turnovers. The Indians had been averaging 17 turnovers per game.

"I'm very happy (with the turnover total)," said Garner. "That's the thing that's bothered me the most, our turnovers. They were playing a zone, so we really shouldn't have had that many turnovers, but only having eight is very good no matter what kind of defense you're going against."

The Indians continued their stellar defensive work, limiting the Eagles to 33-percent shooting from the field.

"We wanted to contain (Brad) Cleaver and (Kyle) Umberger, their two leading scorers," Garner said. "I thought we did a very good job. Cleaver scored nine points and had only one field goal. We held Umberger scoreless. Brian Bunche really did a good job on him."

Cleaver was averaging 17 points per game and Umberger 14 prior to Thursday.

Mike Branson led the Indians offensively with 16 points as he hit four of nine 3-pointers.

Johnson, getting inside for easy baskets almost at will, hit all seven of his field-goal attempts and scored 15 points. Johnson also pulled down nine rebounds as Southeast controlled the boards 47 to 38.

"The passing of Bunche and (Michael) Stokes and (Antonio) Short was really good," said Johnson. "They got me the ball in really good places."

Stokes hit six of 10 shots and scored 13 points. He also dished out six assists.

Short had seven of Southeast's 21 assists to go with three steals while Bunche added three assists.

With the game out of hand, every Southeast player in uniform saw action, and all but one Indian played at least six minutes.

Little-used freshman Tim Scheer made the most of his six minutes at the end of the game, scoring seven points and throwing down two impressive dunks.

"I can't tell you what it does for the morale of the team when every player gets some good minutes," said Garner.

Freshman Justin Cornell paced MSU with 20 points and Brett Bohanan added 10.

The Eagles led 8-6 early, but a 10-0 run put the Indians ahead 16-8. MSU got as close as 16-14 before Southeast began to pull away, eventually leading 35-24 at halftime.

It was 39-27 early in the second half when the Indians put on a crushing 18-0 run that made it 57-27 and buried the Eagles. Southeast's biggest lead of the night was 61-30.

"We got a good lead, kept playing hard and then we got some much-needed rest," said Johnson.