SALUKIS BURY SOUTHEAST 81-62; SIU SNAPS 2ND-HALF TIE, ROLLS BY INDIANS

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A scoring drought of nearly seven minutes late in the first half might not have been the sole contributor to Southeast Missouri State University's basketball loss here Thursday night.

But it sure had plenty to do with the Indians' 81-62 setback to Southern Illinois in front of 2,852 fans at the SIU Arena.

The Indians fell to 4-3 while the Salukis improved to 3-4 with their fifth straight victory over Southeast.

For the first time all season, the Indians were blown out of a game. Their other two losses were by three points at Colorado and by two points in overtime to Tennessee State.

"This wasn't one of our better performances, needless to say," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "From the opening buzzer to the end, we didn't seem to be our normal selves.

"We didn't have the emotion, the enthusiasm we normally have. Our defense wasn't as good. When you play a lot of games, you expect one or two of these. But you don't like it."

Garner made it clear that he was not making excuses and he had plenty of praise for SIU, which despite its below .500 record has played well so far against a rugged schedule.

"SIU has a good defensive team. You have to give them a lot of credit," he said.

SIU coach Rich Herrin credited his squad's defense -- particularly during Southeast's long first-half scoring drought -- for a major part of the victory.

"We really played good defense at the start and then we stepped it up," he said. "We played very well and we beat a very good basketball team. This is a good win for us."

Rashad Tucker led the Salukis offensively with 21 points. Chris Thunell added 16 points and Monte Jenkins had 14. James Jackson contributed 10 points and 12 rebounds as SIU won the battle of the boards 45 to 28.

Bud Eley scored 24 points to pace the Indians. Kahn Cotton added 16 and Cory Johnson had 12.

Southeast appeared to be cruising along in the first half. The Indians led 19-13 with 7:10 remaining after Cotton's 3-pointer.

But those would be the Indians' last points until just 24 seconds before the intermission -- a span of 6:46.

While Southeast was going ice cold and also turning the ball over several times, SIU was scoring 14 straight points to grab a 27-19 lead. The Salukis carried a 29-21 advantage into the break.

"That was the worst stretch of the game for us, no question," Garner said. "We really just were not executing and we weren't strong with the ball."

Southeast came out solid to start the second half, using a 10-2 run to quickly tie the contest at 31-31 on David Montgomery's 15-footer.

But the Salukis regained control with five quick points, an inside basket by Jackson and a 3-pointer by Jenkins. SIU would be in little trouble the rest of the night.

The Salukis began to pull away when Tucker and Jenkins combined for the highlight play of the game. In full stride, Tucker jumped high for Jenkins' alley-oop pass and jammed the ball down with one hand to put the Salukis up 47-38 with just over 14 minutes left.

Less than a minute later, Thunell's 3-pointer made it 50-40.

After the Indians rallied a bit, the 6-foot-9 Thunell drained another trey and then Tucker scored on a follow shot for a 63-49 lead. The rout was on.

The Salukis soon built their lead to 17 points to put the game away. And then, to put a fitting capper on their lopsided win, they got a 3-pointer at the buzzer from freshman Joshua Cross.

Both teams suffered through a sluggish first half that featured physical play, plenty of turnovers and a whole bunch of missed shots.

While the Indians were struggling to 25-percent field-goal shooting (eight of 32), the Salukis weren't all that much better at 38 percent (13 of 34).

Each squad committed nine turnovers.

Despite the rough half, the Indians appeared to be in good shape -- until their long scoring drought that helped turn the game in SIU's favor.

For the game, Southeast shot 39 percent (23 of 59) while SIU was at 49 percent (33 of 68) as both squads improved their shooting considerably in the second half.

Southeast wound up with 18 turnovers and SIU had 20.

"We almost doubled what our turnover average had been," said Garner. "We just didn't play very well."

And things certainly won't get any easier for the Indians, whose next game will be a Saturday night contest against Missouri in Columbia.

"We can't cry and get down and feel sorry for ourselves," said Garner. "We have to go back to work and get ready for Missouri."