INDIANS THWART TECH'S COMEBACK

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- It's not that Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner didn't think his relatively inexperienced and shorthanded Indians could go on the road and win their Ohio Valley Conference opener.

But Garner was apprehensive about Thursday night's game against Tennessee Tech. He expected a dogfight. If the Indians were to win, he figured they would have to squeeze out a narrow decision.

Garner was right on the money. The Indians had a dogfight with Tech. But Southeast, after building an 18-point lead, was able to hold on for a thrilling 84-79 victory in front of 2,882 fans at the Eblen Center.

The Indians are now 4-0 to match the school's best start on the Division I level, the 1992-93 Southeast squad also having started the season with four straight wins.

Tech, also playing its OVC opener, fell to 1-3."What a great win," said Garner. "To come in here, with so many new players, and come away with a win is really big for us."I knew we weren't going to come in here and blow them away. They've got four out of five starters back. I'm really proud of the guys. If we'd have lost, I'd have said the same thing."Mike Branson paced the Indians offensively with 24 points. He hit eight of 14 shots from the field, including five of seven 3-pointers."We knew it would be a tough game," Branson said. "We prepared well on the road last year and we did again for this game."Tech is a really good team and we knew they'd come back. We made some mistakes, but we can learn from this."Michael Stokes had 16 points, six assists and three steals.

Amory Sanders scored 14 points, hitting four of six 3-pointers."This was our toughest win of the year and this was our best win too," said Roderick Johnson, who added 12 points. "We played as hard as we could. They came back on us but we knew if we kept our composure we'd be all right." Johnson and Brian Bunche tied for team-high rebounding honors with six."I'm really proud of the seniors. Mike Branson, Roderick Johnson and Brian Bunche really did a great job," Garner said.

Nyah Jones and Matt Morris added eight points each off the bench.

Morris particularly gave Southeast a huge lift. A walkon guard seeing quality time for the first time this season because of Antonio Short's broken wrist that has him sidelined, Morris hit a big 3-pointer in the first half and five of six pressure-packed free throws in the second half."Matt gave us a huge lift," said Garner. "I knew we had to get somebody else into our rotation and he came up big."Tech got 19 points from Larrie Smith, 17 from freshman Leigh Gayden and 13 from Josh Heard.

Southeast blistered the nets for 55-percent shooting for the game while limiting Tech to 43 percent.

The Indians led 36-24 at halftime. And the contest was only that close because the Eagles scored the final six points of the half.

Johnson got the Indians off and running by scoring his team's first five points. Johnson's conventional three-point play inside broke an early 2-2 tie as Tech never led.

Branson drilled a 3-pointer and then a 15-footer as Southeast opened up a 15-5 lead just 4:55 into the game.

The Indians kept coming and they led by 18 points twice in the first half, the last time on a Jones basket that made it 36-18 with just under two minutes left.

Southeast scored the opening basket of the second half as Bunche got inside to make it 38-24.

Johnson's bucket put the Indians on top 47-31 with just over 16 minutes to play as Southeast opened up its biggest lead of the final half.

Tech pulled to within 51-43, but the Indians answered with a quick 9-0 flurry, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Sanders and one from Branson. Sanders' long-range shot built Southeast's lead back to 60-43 with 9:28 left.

But the Eagles were far from finished. Smith's steal and layup made it 75-71 with one minute left.

Morris hit three of four free throws and Branson made a pair, but Gayden drilled two 3-pointers, the second from way out that made it 80-79 with 24 seconds remaining.

With the home crowd in a frenzy, Stokes made two free throws with 22 seconds left for an 82-79 lead.

The Eagles then missed a 3-point try and Stokes hit two more foul shots with nine seconds remaining for the final margin."We made some mistakes that a young team makes, but I thought we showed great poise at the end of the game," said Garner.

The Indians will return to action Saturday night when they host Division II Oakland City in a 7:30 tipoff.

Saturday's contest will be `Pack the Gym Night.' All tickets are $7 in an attempt to sell out the Show Me Center. Call 651-2113 for tickets or they can be purchased at Schnucks in Cape Girardeau.

Southeast's women's gymnastics team will provide halftime entertainment Saturday and there will also be the Express Tire & Auto $10,000 Shootout.