Perennial powerhouse Murray State visits reeling Redhawks

The tradition-rich Murray State men's basketball team comes to town with a full head of steam.

MSU has rebounded from a slow start to win six of its last seven games, moving up to fourth place in the 10-team Ohio Valley Conference.

The Racers will try to add to Southeast Missouri State's misery when the squads square off tonight at the Show Me Center.

"We expect them to come in and try to keep us from getting a win," Southeast assistant coach Rodney Hamilton said.

MSU has captured a conference record 20 OVC regular-season titles and is riding a streak of 21 straight winning seasons.

At 14-10 overall and 9-5 in the OVC, the Racers are a good bet to at least extend their string of consecutive winning records.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Redhawks (3-23, 0-15) are in danger of adding to their long list of dubious accomplishments. Southeast owns the school single-season record for losses, breaking the mark of 22 set in 2001-02.

The Redhawks have also dropped a school-record 22 straight OVC games dating back to last season. In addition, Southeast continues to hold the nation's current longest losing streak among Division I men's squads at 15.

And if the Redhawks don't upset their arch-rivals, they'll have tied the school record for most consecutive losses of 16 set way back in 1928-29.

Southeast lost 80-55 at MSU on Jan. 24, but the Redhawks were very much in the game for about 30 minutes.

The Redhawks trailed just 53-49 under 12 minutes left but the Racers outscored Southeast 27-6 the rest of the way.

"The first time we met them they weren't playing that well," Hamilton said. "But now they seem to be on a roll."

Danero Thomas, a 6-foot-4 junior wing, is the only MSU player averaging in double figures offensively, at 12.7 points per contest.

Russell nabs honor

Southeast junior forward LaMont Russell was named the OVC newcomer of the week on Monday.

Russell notched his second double-double of the season Thursday at Eastern Kentucky, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. He had five points and seven rebounds Saturday at league-leading Morehead State.

Gymnasts ranked 25th

The Southeast gymnastics team has its highest ranking of the season, No. 25 in the GymInfo national poll released on Monday.

Southeast is ranked 19th on bars and 19th on floor. Two individuals are rated in the top 35, junior Rikara Turner 30th in all-around and senior Sandra Blake 33rd on floor.

The Redhawks, 7-2 overall and a first-place 6-0 in the Midwest Independent Conference, host Ball State at 6 p.m. Thursday.