LOWERY TO LEAVE SE

Chris Lowery is proving that you can go home again.

Or at least to a place where you spent plenty of time.

Lowery, an assistant basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University, has accepted a position as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University, where he played basketball for four years. Lowery will begin his duties in Carbondale Friday.

The 29-year-old Lowery played at SIU from 1991-94, helping lead the Salukis to two NCAA Tournament appearances and two NIT berths. A three-year starter at point guard, he ranks 18th all-time in scoring at SIU with 1,225 points.

"Being here when we had all that great success, this is like home to me," said Lowery in a press release issued by SIU.

Lowery spent just one season at Southeast but Indians' head coach Gary Garner said he made quite an impression during that time.

"He's a good assistant coach, a good recruiter, he's good with the players," Garner said. "I really enjoyed his friendship and we're going to miss him."

Garner said he hopes to have another assistant in place as soon as possible, although it probably won't happen all that fast.

"We've got some time restraints we have to follow, but we'll open it up and see who the best candidates are," he said. "The timing for something like this is never good, but you'd rather have it happen now than in December. And we wish Chris all the best."