Morehead presents Southeast a familiar obstacle

MOREHEAD, Ky. -- The last time Southeast Missouri State University faced one of the Ohio Valley Conference's top players, Henry Domercant torched the Indians for 35 points in a 10-point Eastern Illinois victory on Saturday.

Tonight, the Indians (6-7, 1-1 OVC) get another crack at one of the OVC's best when they take on Morehead State (7-5, 3-0) and its star, Ricky Minard, in a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at Johnson Arena.

Minard, a 6-foot-4 junior swingman, is regarded as one of the leading candidates for OVC Player of the Year honors, with Domercant the favorite after winning the award last year. Minard is averaging nearly 22 points per game, which ranks second in the league. Last year, he was 10th nationally with more than 22 points a contest.

"Minard is a great player. He and Domercant are probably the two best players in the league," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "We'll have our hands full with Minard, just like we did with Domercant."

Minard is a big reason why the Eagles, who came on strong last season to finish second in the OVC, have won their first three conference games and shot to the top of the standings.

"He's probably the most complete player in the league," Southeast sophomore guard Derek Winans said. "He's really good."

But Minard is not the only reason the Eagles are looking like prime OVC championship contenders after being picked third in the preseason poll.

Senior point guard Marquis Sykes, a four-year starter, leads the OVC in assists with more than six per game. He also topped the league in assists last year and is the school's all-time leader in that category.

"Sykes is really a good point guard," Garner said. "He runs their team very well."

Well enough to help the Eagles shoot nearly 51 percent from the field as a team, which is eighth nationally.

"They really run their stuff well," Garner said. "They don't take many bad shots."

Senior guard Chez Marks has come on strong this season to average 12 points per game and is shooting 40 percent from 3-point range. Minard shoots 42 percent from long distance.

"They've got a really good team and it's going to be a big challenge for us," Southeast senior forward Tim Scheer said.

But one the Indians figure to enter with plenty of confidence after starting their two-game road trip impressively by routing Eastern Kentucky 93-77 Thursday night.

The Indians got a career-high 27 points from sophomore guard Brett Hale and 18 from Scheer, normally a starter who came off the bench after Garner shook up his lineup by inserting senior Demetrius King and freshman Cole Grapperhaus at the forwards in place of Scheer and junior Damarcus Hence.

"I think coach just wanted to send a message that we all needed to play harder after the Eastern Illinois game," Scheer said.

Something clicked in as the Indians had arguably their best performance of the season against Eastern Kentucky. Southeast shot nearly 60 percent from the field and outrebounded the Colonels 38-24 as junior center Brandon Griffin pulled down 15 rebounds to go along with 14 points.

King added 11 points and Winans scored 10.

"We really had a good game," Garner said. "Everybody played well."

The Indians know it will take an even better game to have a shot at pulling off an upset tonight.

"Morehead will be much tougher," Scheer said. "We'll have to play twice as hard."

Added Winans, "Beating Eastern Kentucky was a big confidence builder and we'll need it going to Morehead. They'll be really tough. But if we play like we did against Eastern Kentucky, we'll definitely have a chance to beat Morehead and that's all we want."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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