SANDERS WINDS UP AS NATION'S BEST

When the regular season ended, Southeast Missouri State University basketball player Amory Sanders ranked as the nation's leading NCAA Division I 3-point shooter and there was good reason to believe he would wind up there when all the postseason play had been completed.

Well, that turned out to be the case. In the final NCAA statistics released last week, Sanders' percentage of 55.8 from behind the arc stood up as the best in the country.

A guard from Memphis, Tenn., Sanders was hobbled by a variety of injuries throughout his senior season and he even had to miss the final two games of the campaign. But he still connected on 53 of 95 3-point attempts, beating out Akron's David Falknor, who was the Division I runner-up in 3-point shooting at 54 percent.

"Amory is just a tremendous shooter and it's a great accomplishment to finish as the best 3-point shooter in the country out of more than 300 Division I schools," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "It's a tremendous honor for Amory."

Thanks primarily to Sanders' success from long range, Southeast wound up 14th nationally in team 3-point shooting at 39.8 percent. Akron was first at 43.3 percent.

In addition, the Indians finished 26th in free-throw shooting at 73.9 percent. Brigham Young led the way at 78 percent, just ahead of Ohio Valley Conference member Eastern Illinois at 77.5 percent.

Another OVC squad, Austin Peay, was third in field-goal percentage at 50.7.

Individually, four OVC players wound up among the nation's top 15 scorers. Eastern Illinois' Kyle Hill (23.8) and Henry Domercant (22.8) were second and fifth, respectively, with Austin Peay's Trenton Hassell (21.7) 13th and Murray State's Isaac Spencer (21.6) 14th.

* A year after having the nation's leading women's Division I free-throw shooter in Paula Corder-King, Southeast saw sophomore forward Lori Chase wind up 38th nationally at 85 percent.

As a team, the Otahkians finished 29th in the nation at 73.7 percent.