Otahkians seek momentum for OVC tournament

Southeast Missouri State University's Otahkians won't be able to take a nine-game winning streak into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament -- but they want to at least make sure it's one in a row.

The Otahkians (15-11, 11-5), who had their seven-game victory string snapped with Thursday's 64-59 upset loss at Murray State, close out the regular season today with a 4 p.m. contest at Tennessee-Martin (10-15, 7-8).

"It's a big game because we want to play well going into the tournament," coach B.J. Smith said. "We didn't play well against Murray State."

Southeast is tied for third place with Jacksonville State. The Indians have clinched a home game for Tuesday's first round of the eight-team OVC tournament -- a reward that goes to the top four finishers in the 11-team league -- and can still wind up as high as tied for second place if Tennessee Tech (11-4) loses to Morehead State.

But, barring a miracle loss by Jacksonville State against hapless Tennessee State today, the Otahkians are basically locked into the No. 4 seed for the conference tournament because of tie-breakers. They'll likely face Eastern Kentucky Tuesday at the Show Me Center.

Tennessee-Martin, which lost to Southeast 83-60 on Feb. 5 in Cape Girardeau, is tied for seventh place and has wrapped up a tournament berth.