OVC UNBEATENS TO BATTLE FOR FIRST; RACERS, INDIANS CLASH IN SHOW ME CENTER

The preliminaries are all out of the way. Both teams have taken care of business.

Tonight, it's showdown time in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast Missouri State University's Indians and Murray State's big, bad Racers will tip it off at 7:30 p.m. in a game that could pack the 7,000-seat Show Me Center.

The stakes are fairly obvious.

Surprising Southeast, picked fifth out of 10 teams in the OVC preseason poll, has won its first seven league games to shoot to the top of the standings. The Indians are off to by far their best OVC start since joining the league eight years ago.

Perennial power Murray State, which has won or shared 10 of the past 11 OVC regular-season championships, has won its first six league games and trails the Indians by one-half game only because the Racers have played one less contest.

Tonight's winner will keep its conference record perfect and own sole possession of first place.

If you're a college basketball fan, it probably doesn't get much better than this.

"Really, this is what college basketball is all about," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "It should just be a great college atmosphere. I know the Show Me Center will really be loud and full and we need that to try and beat a great team like Murray State."

Garner knows the Indians (10-5 overall) will need all the help they can get against the powerful Racers (14-2).

Murray State, the defending OVC champion, went 29-4 last year, when it was ranked among the nation's top 25 teams.

And the scary thing is, with three starters and some top reserves back, along with a talented newcomer, Garner believes the Racers may be even better this season than they were last year.

The results might be proving Garner right. Murray State, which hasn't missed a beat under first-year head coach Tevester Anderson -- a former Racer assistant who took over the program when Mark Gottfried left for Alabama -- owns a victory at Oklahoma and the Racers have won their six OVC games by an average of 23 points.

"They've got their whole frontline back from last year, their backup point guard from last year is playing great and they signed one of the nation's top junior-college players at shooting guard," Garner said. "They're a tremendous basketball team and I think they might be better than last year, which really is scary. I really think they're one of the top 25 teams in the nation."

Murray State's graduation losses from last season was its splendid backcourt of point guard Chad Townsend and shooting guard De'Teri Mayes, who combined to average more than 35 points per game.

But Aubrey Reese, who backed up Townsend at the point last year, looks almost like a Townsend clone. Reese, a 6-foot junior, is scoring more than 14 points per game while leading the OVC with more than five assists per contest.

"Reese might be even better than Townsend," said Garner.

Taking the place of the explosive Mayes, who averaged better than 21 points per game to earn OVC Player of the Year honors, is 6-5 junior Marlon Towns, who is averaging more than nine points a contest.

Towns, one of the nation's more heralded juco players last season, began his career at Arkansas and started quite a bit for the Razorbacks' Sweet 16 team of 1995-96, scoring 18 points during an SEC Tournament game against Kentucky.

"Towns can shoot from the outside and he's a great slasher to the basket," Garner said.

The Racers' front line was collectively probably the OVC's best last year and it returned intact.

Isaac Spencer, a 6-6 junior forward, leads the way with team-high averages of nearly 17 points and more than seven rebounds per game.

Rod Murray, a 6-7 junior forward, averages more than 11 points per contest while 6-9 senior center Duane Virgil contributes more than 10 points an outing.

"They had a great frontline last year and everybody is back," said Garner. "Their whole team is just outstanding, with tremendous athletes all over the court."

Southeast has been playing pretty well itself, with four straight victories, and four of its seven OVC wins have come on the road.

The Indians routed visiting Austin Peay Tuesday night 87-71, taking a 46-25 halftime lead and coasting in the second half.

"We had the kind of game we needed going into the Murray State game," Garner said. "We came out really ready to play."

While Murray State has dominated virtually everybody in the OVC over the years, the Racers have been particularly potent against the Indians.

Southeast has lost the last 12 meetings against Murray State and is 1-13 against the Racers since joining the OVC. The Indians' lone win over the Racers as an OVC and Division I member came during the 1991-92 season by an 80-75 count.

For the streak to be broken tonight, Garner figures the Indians will probably have to play their best game of the season.

"There's no question we're going to have to play a tremendous game," Garner said. "But I know our team is looking forward to the challenge. And hopefully we'll have a tremendous crowd to help us out."

Murray State at SEMO

7:30 p.m., Show Me Center

Probable Starters

SEMO (10-5, 7-0 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Mike Branson F Jr. 6-6 10.9

Roderick Johnson F Jr. 6-7 10.4

Bud Eley C Sr. 6-10 15.1

Cory Johnson G Sr. 6-0 11.1

Kahn Cotton G Sr. 5-10 7.4

Murray State (14-2, 6-0 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Isaac Spencer F Jr. 6-6 16.9

Rod Murray F Jr. 6-7 11.3

Duane Virgil C Sr. 6-9 10.6

Marlon Towns G Jr. 6-5 9.4

Aubrey Reese G Jr. 6-0 14.1

Series: Murray leads 24-11

Last meeting: Murray won 82-71 last season

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