RACERS HIT GAS, WIDEN GAP IN OVC; SOUTHEAST FALLS SHORT 86-75

Murray State's three-headed monster was at it again Thursday night.

As a result, the Racers are now in first place in the Ohio Valley Conference all by themselves while Southeast Missouri State University's Indians occupy fifth place.

The Indians had a chance to move into a first-place tie in the scrambled OVC standings but they fell to the Racers 86-75 in front of 5,212 fans at the Show Me Center.

MSU improved to 14-6 overall and 9-3 in OVC play. Southeast fell to 10-13 overall and 7-5 in the league. The Indians fell behind Eastern Illinois (7-4), Austin Peay (8-5) and Middle Tennessee State (8-5), although they remain very much in the thick of things.

"We missed out on a tremendous opportunity tonight," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate.

Thanks mainly to the Racers' three-headed monster -- otherwise known as the guard trio of Deteri Mayes, Vincent Rainey and Chad Townsend.

Those three players have done the bulk of MSU's scoring all season, combining to average 57 points.

And they were at it again Thursday night. Mayes, averaging 21 points, pumped in a game-high 23. Rainey, averaging 24 points, followed with 21. Townsend, the point guard who averages 13 points, also had 21.

But perhaps just as important as the scoring those three players did was the job they did on the boards, particularly Mayes. The 6-foot-3 junior grabbed a whopping 17 rebounds while Rainey, a 6-4 senior, added 12 rebounds. They were the main reasons why the Racers controlled the boards to the tune of 57-27.

"Their three guards are excellent players. You won't find many better than them," said Shumate. "We just had a hard time getting them under control, not only offensively but on the boards."

Racers coach Mark Gottfried took one look at the final statistics and shook his head.

"No way I thought we'd outrebound them by 20," he said. "Rebounding was a big key."

The Racers got some help on the boards from unsung junior Matt Harris, a rugged 6-8, 240-pounder. Sporting paltry averages of 1.4 points and 1.7 rebounds before the game, Harris came up huge with eight points and eight rebounds.

"Matt did a super job," Gottfried said. "We're not very deep; we've only got eight guys on scholarship. But we've had different guys off our bench step up all year."

Some other keys to the game: the defensive job the Racers did on Southeast center Bud Eley and MSU's potent free-throw shooting as compared to the Indians' woeful performance from the line.

Eley, a 6-10 junior, had career highs of 34 points and 20 rebounds during Southeast's 77-75 loss at MSU last month. Thursday, Eley scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds as he was saddled with foul trouble much of the night.

"I thought we guarded Bud well and his foul trouble was to our benefit. That might have been the biggest thing," said Gottfried.

Said Shumate, "They did a good job on Bud. They had a good game plan. They were double and triple teaming him and we couldn't get the ball in to him."

In the free-throw department, the Racers hit 25 of 33, including 11 of 14 in final 1:18 as they iced the victory.

Meanwhile, the Indians were just 15 of 30 from the line -- including only eight of 19 in the second half. Several of those misses came during a period when the Indians were trying to slice into MSU's nine-point lead midway in the second half.

"They hit their free throws and we didn't hit ours," said Shumate. "But those things happen. Sometimes you hit them and sometimes you don't."

Lakeo Keller came off the bench and led the Indians offensively with 19 points as he was named Copi-Rite Player of the Game. Richard Lyte added 12 points off the bench.

Both teams had several leads in the first half before the Racers broke away to a 38-31 halftime advantage.

The Racers quickly shot out to a 43-31 lead early in the second half and the Indians spent the rest of the night trying to catch up.

They never could, although they made things interesting down the stretch.

MSU held what looked like a safe 71-61 with under five minutes to play. But the Indians forced three quick turnovers which resulted in a Keller layup, a Keller 3-pointer and two Eley free throws. All of a sudden Southeast was within 71-68 with 3:31 still remaining.

The Racers then missed a shot, but Rainey grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. He hit both free throws to make it 73-68.

Southeast got within 73-69 and had possession but the Indians couldn't capitalize. And that's as close as they got as the Racers pulled away toward the end.

And so the Racers had their 10th straight win over the Indians. Asked to explain his team's mastery, Gottfried was at a loss.

"I've only been here two years, so I don't really know," he said. "But it's a real rivalry and our players have a lot of respect for SEMO. We're always ready to play."

Southeast will now hit the road for its longest OVC trip of the season. The Indians will leave this morning for Morehead, Ky., where they'll take on Morehead State Saturday night. Then it's on to Richmond, Ky., and a game with Eastern Kentucky Monday night.