INDIANS VS. RAIDERS IN KEY OVC BATTLE

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team will play its final regular-season home game tonight -- but the Indians hope the contest is not their overall final appearance at the Show Me Center this year.

When Middle Tennessee State visits for a 7:45 p.m. tipoff, the Indians will try to continue keeping their hopes of a top-four Ohio Valley Conference finish alive.

The top four teams in the final regular-season standings of the 10-team OVC earn home games for the first round of the conference tournament.

If the season ended today, the Indians would have to play their first-ever OVC Tournament game on the road next week. But, with three games left, the Tribe is still very much in the hunt for a top-four finish.

Southeast (11-15 overall, 8-7 OVC) is tied for fifth place with Eastern Illinois, which the Indians will play Saturday as the regular season comes to a close.

Fourth-place Tennessee Tech, which Southeast beat 78-65 this past Saturday, is just a half-game ahead of the Indians and Eastern Illinois at 9-7.

And Middle Tennessee, which is tied for second place with Murray State at 10-6, is just one game ahead of the Indians in the all-important loss column. Consequently, both Middle Tennessee and Murray are just one game behind league-leading Austin Peay (11-5) in the scrambled OVC race.

All of which makes tonight's contest extremely vital -- as are each of the Indians' remaining three games.

"They're all huge," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate. "We just have to worry about taking care of our own business and then just see what happens."

The Indians were able to take care of business Saturday night as they broke a three-game losing streak and gained ground on one of the teams ahead of them in the OVC standings.

Tonight, Southeast will attempt to do the same thing -- although it certainly won't be easy.

Middle Tennessee, which is 17-10 for the best overall record in the OVC, has been extremely impressive in winning two straight games on the road. The Raiders beat Tennessee State 82-75 on Thursday and Eastern Illinois 77-55 on Saturday.

"They're going to be an extremely tough opponent for us," Shumate said. "They've got a talented team and they've won two big road games in a row, which is really impressive."

The Raiders also figure to be looking for some revenge tonight. The Indians notched one of their biggest wins of the season when Richard Lyte's follow-up dunk shot with less than a second left stunned the Raiders 78-76 on Jan. 18 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Middle Tennessee is led by 6-foot-6 senior forward Nod Carter, who averages 16.8 points per game.

SEMO vs. Middle Tennessee State

7:45 p.m., Show Me Center

Probable Starters

SEMO (11-15, 8-7 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

David Montgomery F So. 6-8 8.0

Reggie Crisp F Sr. 6-5 3.8

Bud Eley C Jr. 6-10 17.5

Calvert White G Jr. 6-4 13.5

Allen Hatchett G So. 5-10 9.2

MTSU (17-10, 10-6 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Roni Bailey F Sr. 6-5 14.3

Nod Carter F Sr. 6-6 16.8

Chad Wampler C Sr. 6-8 4.0

Richard Duncan G So. 6-1 8.6

Torey Moore G Sr. 6-5 10.8

Series: 6-5 SEMO

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