PANTHERS KEEP SE SLUMPING

As a first-year Ohio Valley Conference member, Eastern Illinois University was somewhat of an unknown quantity among the rest of the league.

That's probably a major reason why the Panthers were picked to finish just eighth in the 10-team conference during the pre-season poll.

Why, EIU coach Rick Samuels wasn't even sure what to make of his Panthers this season."We have eight new players. We didn't know much either," said Samuels. "Our hope was to develop chemistry and be competitive in the league."The Panthers have evidently developed plenty of chemistry because they have been hands down the surprise of the OVC so far.

Saturday night, the first-place Panthers came into the Show Me Center and handed Southeast Missouri State University's Indians a 65-61 defeat in front of 5,533 fans.

EIU improved to 9-7 overall and 6-2 in OVC play. The Indians, by losing their third straight game, fell to 8-12 overall and 5-4 in the league.

The Panthers remain one-half game ahead of Murray State and Austin Peay, who are tied for second at 6-3. Southeast falls into a fourth-place tie with Middle Tennessee State and Tennessee Tech, who are also both 5-4."This is a huge win," said Samuels. "We've played our last three games on the road and we've won two of those. We're showing some toughness."EIU was able to gut it out at the end after a late 10-0 Southeast run wiped out a 57-49 Panthers lead and put the Indians ahead 59-57 with 3:30 remaining.

But the Panthers answered with four straight points and they never trailed again."When they tied it, we made some really big plays," Samuels said. "Maybe that's a sign that we're maturing."For Southeast coach Ron Shumate, the signs were not nearly so positive as the Indians started their four-game homestand on a disappointing note."If you can't protect your turf, you're in trouble. We couldn't protect our turf tonight," said Shumate. "Eastern Illinois has a good basketball team and the credit has to go to them. They came in to a hostile environment and won."Rick Kaye, a talented 6-foot-5 junior guard, led the Panthers with 17 points. Kurt Cuffle added 13 points while 6-7 freshmen center John Smith -- who played at Paducah (Ky.) Tilghman High last year had 10 points.

The Panthers also got a big game from point guard Chad Peckinpaugh, who scored just seven points but dished out 10 assists as he ran the EIU offense extremely well.

Southeast was led by Calvert White, who scored 17 points and was named the Copi-Rite Player of the Game. Bud Eley had 13 points, but the 6-10 junior center got into foul trouble and played just 20 minutes. He also missed four straight free throws in the late going as the Indians appeared poised to mount a closing rally.

Devron Kirksey came off the bench and scored 11 points, all coming in the first half. He also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds."They got Bud in foul trouble and that hurt," Shumate said. "Our problem is our role players are not stepping up and doing the job.'The game was tight virtually the entire way, with EIU's eight-point second-half advantage the biggest lead of the game for either squad.

Southeast led by six points in the first half but EIU rallied to go ahead 32-29 at the break.

The lead changed hands a few times in the second half before the Panthers appeared to take control. Peckinpaugh's 3-pointer with 7:15 left put EIU ahead 53-46 and the Panthers later built the margin to 57-49. Most of the damage was done with Eley on the bench because of four fouls.

Eley returned to the contest with 5:47 remaining and the Indians immediate wiped out the eight-point deficit.

A follow shot by Eley, Reggie Crisp's dunk off of Eley's miss, an Eley baseline shot and a tough shot in the lane by Eley tied the contest at 57-57.

Then, with 3:30 left, White drained a 15-footer to cap the 10-0 spurt and the Indians had a 59-57 lead.

But the Panthers answered right back. Kaye got inside for a layup to forge a 59-59 tie. Then Southeast turned the ball over and Marc Polite hit two free throws at the 2:25 mark to put EIU ahead 61-59.

Eley missed two free throws with 1:58 left, but Crisp grabbed the rebound on the second miss. That led to Eley being fouled again, but he again misfired on both attempts.

With Southeast turning up the defensive pressure, Michael Shaver got inside for a layup at the 1:34 mark to give the Panthers a 63-59 lead.

Kaye could have all but iced the win, but he missed a dunk with 44 seconds left. White answered with a 16-footer at the other end with 33 seconds to go as the Indians closed to within 63-61.

Southeast then forced a turnover and the Indians called a timeout with 12 seconds left. They worked the ball inside to Eley, who missed from about 10 feet. Cuffle grabbed the rebound, was fouled and made two free throws with one second left to seal the win."We didn't shoot the ball well from the field or the line (25 of 65 on field goals and seven of 15 on free throws)," said Shumate. "But don't take anything away from Eastern Illinois. They came in here and beat us."The Indians will be off until next Saturday, when Tennessee State comes to the Show Me Center for a 5 p.m. contest.