Indians try to avenge loss to Tech

Southeast Missouri State University and Tennessee Tech have gone in opposite directions since the Eagles beat the Indians on a last-second shot at the Show Me Center less than two weeks ago.

Since that 71-69 result on Jan. 10, the Indians (9-6, 2-2 Ohio Valley Conference) have posted two consecutive league wins while the Eagles (7-8, 1-3) have dropped two straight OVC contests.

But Tech figures to be salivating to finally get back on its home court when the squads square off tonight in a 7:30 p.m. tipoff in Cookeville, Tenn. The Eagles have played their first four OVC games on the road while the Indians have been at home for three of their first four league contests.

"It's nice to be home," Tech coach Mike Sutton said. "We've had a tough road to start the conference season."

The Indians are not necessarily looking forward to hitting the road -- their next four games will be away from the Show Me Center -- but they are anxious to see if they can continue climbing in the OVC standings.

"We've gotten on a little roll and hopefully we can keep it going," said junior guard Derek Winans, the Indians' leading scorer at 14.3 points per game. "We know it's always tough to win on the road, but we think we can do it."

Tough road aheadSoutheast coach Gary Garner believes the Indians have the mettle necessary to capture big games on the road this season --they so far have won their only OVC contest away from home --but he knows just how tough a trip they face this week.

While Tech has struggled lately, the Eagles have some of the best talent in the OVC. Then Saturday, the Indians play at defending champion and preseason favorite Austin Peay -- which is off to a 5-0 league start after winning its first five road games to start the conference campaign. Saturday's contest will be televised by Fox Sports Net South.

"This is going to be a really tough trip, and a really important trip," Garner said.

When Southeast last played Tech, the Indians led by 10 points at halftime, fell behind by 14 points with less than four minutes left, used a 14-0 run to pull into a tie -- and then saw Eagles sophomore guard Keyon Boyd hit a 15-foot baseline jumper just before the buzzer.

Garner thought the Indians played well in that game, but he remembers their biggest problem was stopping Tech's second-half penetration.

"They have some very quick players and we just couldn't stop their penetration," Garner said. "We're definitely going to have to defend that better this time."

The Indians also had all kinds of problems with Massachusetts transfer Willie Jenkins, a 6-foot-6 junior forward who scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half. Jenkins is the OVC's leading scorer at 20.3 points per game.

"He's one of the better players in the league," Garner said. "He basically took over the game last time. We have to do a better job against him."

Tech, second in the OVC in scoring at 78.2 points per game, has plenty of other offensive weapons, including 6-4 senior guard Cameron Crisp (14 ppg) and 6-4 sophomore guard Milone Clark (11.7 ppg).

"They've got tremendous athletes and they're very explosive," Garner said.

Southeast counters with Winans, junior forward Dainmon Gonner (12.8 ppg) and senior center Brandon Griffin (11.1 ppg). The Indians have also gotten offensive lifts in recent games from junior point guard Mike Nelke, senior forward Damarcus Hence and junior forward Reggie Golson off the bench.

"I think we've started to click pretty good as a team lately," Nelke said. "Hopefully we'll keep playing good because we need to win some games on the road."