INDIANS TRY TO SALVAGE SPLIT

RICHMOND, Ky. -- Entering their current road trip, it wasn't too much of a stretch to envision Southeast Missouri State University's Indians winning both games.

After all, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky were occupying the bottom two spots in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference.

But life on the road is never easy in college basketball. After losing to Morehead State 83-80 Saturday night, the Indians enter tonight's 6:30 game at Eastern Kentucky hoping to salvage a split.

"The road is always tough in basketball," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "We just dug ourselves too big of a hole against Morehead. Now we have to try and bounce back and hopefully we can come home with a split on this trip."

Southeast missed out on a golden opportunity to move up several notches in the scrambled OVC standings by losing to Morehead State.

The Indians (10-14 overall, 7-6 OVC) are now in sixth place in the league. Murray State leads the way at 9-4, Austin Peay is 9-5, Middle Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech are both 8-6 and Eastern Illinois is 7-5.

Eastern Kentucky (5-16 overall, 3-10 OVC) is in last place in the conference, but the Colonels should be riding high tonight because they broke a 10-game losing streak by beating Eastern Illinois 82-72 Saturday afternoon.

When Southeast and Eastern Kentucky squared off in Cape Girardeau on Jan. 11, the game went down to the wire before the Indians squeezed out a 70-68 victory.

"Eastern Kentucky doesn't have a good record, but they've got a good basketball team," Shumate said. "They've got some talented players and we barely beat them at our place. It's going to be a difficult game for us."

The Colonels receive balanced scoring, with three players averaging in double figures, led by 6-foot-7 junior forward Daniel Sutton at 13 points per game.

Matt Simons, a 6-11 junior center, scores nearly 12 points per game while 6-3 senior guard Carlos Bess adds 11 a contest.

Southeast fell behind by 17 points in the second half against Morehead State before rallying furiously down the stretch. The Indians pulled to within one point with nine seconds left but the Eagles were able to hold on.

The Indians played most of the way Saturday without their two point guards, Allen Hatchett and Lakeo Keller, who are both hobbled by injuries. They saw only four minutes of action combined and neither played in the second half. Both are doubtful for tonight's game.

SEMO vs. Eastern Kentucky

6:30 p.m., Richmond, Ky.

Probable Starters

SEMO (10-13, 7-5 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Calvert White F Jr. 6-4 13.7

Devron Kirksey F Jr. 6-7 5.7

Bud Eley C Jr. 6-10 17.4

Reggie Crisp G Sr. 6-5 3.6

Allen Hatchett G So. 5-10 9.5

EKU (5-16, 3-10 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Daniel Sutton F Jr. 6-7 13.2

Aaron Cecil F Jr. 6-6 7.2

Matt Simons C Jr. 6-11 11.7

Carlos Bess G Sr. 6-3 10.2

Travis Inskeep G So. 6-1 9.2

Series: 7-4 EKU

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