INDIANS TUNE OUT GOVERNORS 87-71; SOUTHEAST READY FOR SHOWDOWN

Talk about tuning up for a first-place Ohio Valley Conference showdown with an impressive performance.

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team clicked on virtually all cylinders in the first half Tuesday night -- and Austin Peay's Governors barely knew what hit them.

The Indians rolled up a 46-25 halftime lead and took all the suspense out of a game that turned out to be an 87-71 romp in front of 4,534 fans at the Show Me Center.

Southeast improved to 10-5 overall and 7-0 in OVC play as the Indians remained one-half game ahead of Murray State. The Racers, 6-0 in the league, had to rally past Morehead State 86-82 Tuesday night.

The Indians and Racers will square off Thursday night at the Show Me Center in a battle of undefeated OVC teams.

"If somebody had told me we would be up by 21 points at halftime, I would never have believed it," said a smiling Southeast coach Gary Garner. "I was concerned our players might be looking past this game, but they weren't."

Not by a longshot. Southeast blitzed the struggling Governors (4-9 overall, 2-4 OVC) with its best overall half of the season to put the game away early.

The Indians played their usual stout defense in the first half -- and this time they had the offense to match.

Southeast shot a sizzling 67 percent in the opening 20 minutes, hitting 18 of 27. And the Indians went 7-for-11 from 3-point range, good for 64 percent.

"It was our best half of the year, I don't think there's any doubt about it," said Garner. "Our defense continued to be extremely strong and we got our offense going."

The Indians also got a big first-half lift from its bench as Fred Abraham, Nathan Owen and Brian Bunche -- averaging seven points per game between them -- contributed 11 points in the opening 20 minutes.

And many of them helped fuel the big early lead. Owen and Abraham hit consecutive 3-pointers to boost a 20-17 lead to 26-17. Another Abraham 3-pointer made it 29-21 and Bunche's follow shot put Southeast ahead 31-21.

"We've gotten really good help from our bench, even though a lot of times they haven't scored much," Garner said. "Tonight they really contributed offensively as well as in other areas."

Abraham, a freshman guard, finished with a season-high 10 points. He hit both his 3-point attempts. Owen, a sophomore guard from Cape Central High School who had been struggling with his shooting, also had 10 points and hit two of three 3-pointers.

"I was really happy for Nathan because he's been playing well but he's been struggling with his shooting. This could really get him going," said Garner. "And Fred stepped up."

Said Abraham with a grin, "It felt good to be out there playing well. My shot happened to fall and I got open."

Bunche, a junior forward/center, contributed six points and six rebounds.

"Brian had another solid game," Garner said.

Of course, the Indians got the usual strong play from their normal prime-time performers.

Senior center Bud Eley continued his dominating season with 18 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.

Junior forward Roderick Johnson and senior guard Cory Johnson both scored 13 points. Junior forward Mike Branson added nine points and senior guard Kahn Cotton dished out eight assists.

"We knew this was a big game and we knew some people probably thought we'd overlook them," said C. Johnson. "I was surprised we had that big a lead at the half because they've got a good team. But we've got a good team."

Branson and R. Johnson also turned in stellar defensive performances. Branson limited standout Trenton Hassell to nine points, 10 below his average. R. Johnson held the powerful Jackson to nine points, three below his average.

"Mike did a great job on Hassell for the second time this year and he got a lot of help," said Garner. "Roderick did a great job on Jackson.

"Our defense is a total team effort. Everybody is playing well defensively."

Leading 31-23 with just over seven minutes left in the first half, the Indians applied a 15-0 knockout punch as the Govs went scoreless for more than six minutes.

Ahead 46-25 at the break, the second half was just a mere formality. The Govs never got closer than 17 points until pulling to within 13 after both teams had cleared their benches in the final moments.

"We needed a great game going into Thursday," said Garner.

The Indians certainly got it.

INDIAN NOTES: Eley earned his second straight OVC Player of the Week award after averaging 17 points, 10.7 rebounds and 6.7 blocked shots during three Southeast wins last week.