LOWERY JOINS SE COACHING CORPS

A former player for one of Southeast Missouri State's regional rivalries has joined forces with the Indians' basketball team.

Chris Lowery, a former Southern Illinois University standout basketball player who helped coach Missouri Southern State College to the NCAA Division II national semifinals last year, has been named an assistant basketball coach at Southeast to replace Anthony Beane, who took an assistant job at Illinois State University earlier this summer.

Southeast head coach Gary Garner thinks Lowery is the perfect fit for the program.

"I feel very fortunate to be able to attract a coach the caliber of Chris Lowery," said Garner. "He has an excellent background of being with winning programs. He was highly recommended by the coaches he played for and worked for as an assistant.

"Lowery is familiar with our recruiting territory. He is originally from Evansville, Ind. and recruited in Indiana, Missouri and Illinois while an assistant at Rend Lake and Missouri Southern."

The last three seasons, Lowery has been an assistant coach at Missouri Southern State College. Last season, Missouri Southern was 30-3, won the MIAA regular and postseason titles, won the NCAA Division II South Central Region and was a game away from the Division II title game.

Lowery played at SIU from 1991-94 on teams that advanced to two NIT tournaments and two NCAA tournaments.

After graduating from SIU with a degree in exercise physiology, Lowery became an assistant coach at Rend Lace Community College from 1995-97. Rend Lake's 1995-96 team advanced to the NJCAA Division II Illinois regional finals.

Lowery, who is married with two children, begins his duties at Southeast today.