Men take to road to face Murray St.

Southeast Missouri State's Redhawks didn't have to wait long for a rematch with Murray State.

The teams met Thursday night at the Show Me Center with plenty at stake, and the Racers defeated the Redhawks 61-57 to eliminate them from contention for hosting a first-round Ohio Valley Conference tournament game.

But tonight there will be much more on the line when the third-seeded Racers (17-10) and sixth-seeded Redhawks (14-13) square off at 7 p.m. in an opening-round tournament game in Murray, Ky.

The winner advances to Friday night's semifinals in Nashville, Tenn., while the loser will be done for the season.

"We're excited about the tournament," Southeast senior guard Derek Winans said. "There's a lot at stake, and it should be a great game."

If the first two games between the teams is any indication, then Winans figures to be right.

While Murray State prevailed by four points Thursday in Cape Girardeau, Southeast squeezed out a 61-58 victory on Feb. 5 in Kentucky.

Southeast coach Gary Garner sees no reason why tonight's matchup won't be a carbon copy of the first two meetings.

"Needless to say, we'd like to have the game here, but I feel, and our players feel, that we can win," Garner said. "I expect a heck of a basketball game, pretty much like the first two have been."

Southeast played well in both games against the Racers, with only 10 turnovers on the road and just 13 turnovers at home. The Redhawks also outrebounded the OVC's second-best rebounding team in both contests.

The difference in Thursday's loss was basically that the Redhawks struggled with their shooting, hitting just 45 percent from the field, and only 25 percent from 3-point range. At Murray, Southeast shot 48.1 percent.

"After watching tape of Thursday's game, we played pretty good," Garner said. "We just needed to make shots. We missed a lot of wide open shots. Down the stretch we missed some and they made some.

"It will probably come down to the same thing, whoever makes the shots."

Southeast has been able to handle Murray State's vaunted full-court pressure defense fairly well in both games.

"It's the same as before, we have to go through their press without turning it over too much, and we have to rebound," he said. "You're going to get shots against them, but you've got to make them."

Southeast senior forward Dainmon Gonner, the OVC's leading scorer at 20.4 points per game, has struggled against the Racers this season, scoring just 27 points in the two contests while shooting 33.3 percent.

Likewise, Murray State top scorer Trey Pearson, a sophomore guard averaging 14.7 points, has struggled against Southeast, scoring only 16 points in the two games and shooting 35 percent.

Garner said that could happen again -- and it will be up to other players to pick up the slack.

"Pearson is a better player than he's shown against us, and Dainmon hasn't had good games," Garner said. "I'm sure both teams are trying to take away the best players, so it might be hard for Dainmon or Reggie [Golson] to have big games. It's so important for other players to step up."

Noteworthy

* Winans, the fifth-leading scorer in Southeast history with 1,448 points, is now also the program's career leader in 3-point baskets with 216, breaking the old record of 215 by Curtis Shelton (1990-94). Winans had previously broken Shelton's record for 3-pointers attempted with 555.

* Gonner needs four more steals to break Southeast's single-season record of 71 held by Dwayne Rutherford (1988-89). Gonner, the OVC's steals leader, has 68 thefts this year.