Regular season nears finish for talented seniors

It was great to get a win over Western Illinois on Tuesday night. Our players played hard and had one of their better defensive efforts of the season.

Western Illinois made a run at the end of the game and took the lead, but finally we closed out a close game when Brandon Griffin made two free throws with just six seconds remaining to give us a 53-52 win.

Now it's back to Ohio Valley Conference play as every team jockeys for position in the OVC post-season tournament. We face Austin Peay, one of the league leaders, in our final home game of the season Saturday night.

It will be senior night as we recognize the three seniors on this year's basketball team. Unfortunately, the senior who has been with us for four years probably will not be in uniform Saturday. Tim Scheer suffered a partially torn ligament in his right knee during the Murray State game Saturday night and is probably out for the rest of the season.

I always hate to see any player get hurt and have a season ended prematurely, but it is even tougher when it comes near the end of a player's career. Tim has been with us for four years and has made a valuable contribution to our basketball program. He has 895 career points and 304 career rebounds while playing 88 games in a Southeast uniform.

I don't think there is any doubt that Tim is the best shooting four-man in the OVC. He is the second leading 3-point shooter in the OVC and has been a key part of our offense all season.

In the Western Illinois game we really missed Tim's shooting and his bulk inside. He has taken a lot of charges this season, and his experience and expertise will be missed in our final few games of the season.

Demetrius King has been with us for two seasons after transferring from a junior college in Florida. He has had some big games for us off the bench and has provided a real spark in several games. Demetrius is a very good 3-point shooter when he has his feet set, and he will have to step up his rebounding with Tim out of the lineup.

Our third senior is Larry Graves, who has been with us only this season.

Larry joined our team after the start of practice when we learned Reggie Golson probably was going to be out for the season while recovering from knee surgery. You really have to admire a player like Larry who has gotten very little playing time in games. He still comes to practice every day and gives 100 percent.

Larry has a great attitude and is really proud to be a member of this team. His attitude is as good as any player I have coached.

We hope you will be on hand to show your appreciation to the three seniors when they are recognized just prior to the start of Saturday night's game.

Austin Peay is the best defensive team in the league and is battling for the regular season championship with a 10-2 record going into a game tonight at Eastern Illinois. We will really have to work hard to get good shots against the Governors.

They also have the league's best shot blocker in 6-foot-8 Josh Lewis, who had six blocks against us earlier this year at Clarksville, Tenn. He helps make them the best defensive team in the league because of his defensive ability and shot-blocking capability. You think you have a good shot and all at once he comes from the other side of the lane to make a block. He is a real defensive weapon.

Austin Peay is a very solid team with good balance, and they present a lot of problems for our defense. Against Western Illinois, we were able to double-team their inside players, but Austin Peay has the perimeter shooters to make that difficult. They are a difficult team to develop a defensive plan for, but as Henry Iba said, "You have to have a defensive plan."

It's not that you just run a man-to-man or zone defense, you have to have a defensive plan for every player and line-up you will face in a game.

I'll see you at the Show Me Center on Saturday night.

Gary Garner is the men's basketball coach at Southeast Missouri State University.