SE BOARDS BUS FOR ANOTHER ROAD CONQUEST; INDIANS TAKE PERFECT OVC ROAD RECORD INTO EASTERN ILLINOIS

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball team has won all four of its Ohio Valley Conference road games so far this season, including a few at some notoriously difficult places.

Tonight, the Indians will be looking to remain road warriors when they take on Eastern Illinois in a 7:05 OVC tipoff at Lantz Gym in Charleston, Ill.

Southeast coach Gary Garner expects the Indians to have a tough time if they are to remain right on the heels of Murray State in the OVC race.

"It's going to be a hard game for us," said Garner. "Eastern Illinois has been playing well and they have a good team. But I think our confidence playing on the road is as high as it is when we play at home.

"We've been able to have success on the road so far and really, we've played our best basketball on the road. Hopefully that will continue."

The Indians, 11-6 overall, are 8-1 in OVC play, which puts them in second place in the 10-team league. Southeast is now a full game behind first-place Murray State, which defeated Tennessee State Thursday night to improve to 9-0.

Eastern Illinois, 10-9 overall, is a third-place 5-4 in the OVC as the Panthers trail the Indians by three games. Any hopes Eastern Illinois has of finishing second would suffer a severe blow with a loss tonight.

"It's a big game for them as far as moving up in the standings and it's a big game for us as far as staying close to Murray State," Garner said.

The Panthers, like the Indians, have been a major surprise in the OVC so far this season -- at least according to the preseason poll selected by coaches and sports information directors.

Southeast was picked to finish fifth while Eastern Illinois was tabbed for seventh despite the Panthers' strong second-place showing of a year ago.

"I think the main reason they were picked kind of low is because they lost the one great player (Rick Kaye)," said Garner. "But they had several of their other top players back and they're very well coached so it's really not all that surprising they're doing well."

Eastern Illinois' leading scorer is somewhat of a surprise in that he averaged barely five points per game last season -- and most of his scoring came in the final few games of the campaign.

But Kyle Hill, a 6-foot-2 guard, is a multi-dimensional player who is strong at driving to the basket and very adept at hitting the outside jumper. Hill is averaging 15.8 points per game and he's also grabbing nearly five rebounds per contest while shooting 35 percent from 3-point range.

"Hill is a very good athlete who can do a lot of things," said Garner.

Two other Panthers average in double figures and both are returning starters. Marc Polite, a 6-5 junior forward, gets 13.6 points per game while 6-foot senior point guard Jack Owens contributes 12.3 points and more than five assists per game to lead the team in that department.

"Polite and Owens are also very good players," Garner said. "Those are their main three, but they've got other solid players around them."

Garner said the Panthers will be similar to Tennessee-Martin, which very nearly upset the Indians last Saturday in Cape Girardeau. Southeast was able to pull out an 84-75 overtime victory.

"They try to spread you out on the floor, just like Tennessee-Martin," said Garner. "We have to play smarter than we did (against Tennessee-Martin) and not chase them all around the floor."

Garner knows the next two games -- Southeast plays at Morehead State next Saturday -- will go a long way toward determining if the Indians are going to remain in the battle for first place in the OVC.

"These next two games will be very difficult for us," he said. "We've just got to continue to take it one game at a time. So far we've been able to do a pretty good job of it."

SEMO at Eastern Illinois

7:05 p.m., Lantz Gym, Charleston, Ill.

Probable Starters

SEMO (11-6, 8-1 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Mike Branson F Jr. 6-6 10.9

Roderick Johnson F Jr. 6-7 11.4

Bud Eley C Sr. 6-10 14.3

Cory Johnson G Sr. 6-0 11.1

Kahn Cotton G Sr. 5-10 8.7

Eastern Illinois (10-9, 5-4 OVC)

Player Pos. Yr. Ht. Avg.

Marc Polite F Jr. 6-5 13.6

Keith Hibbler F Jr. 6-6 3.2

Michael Shaver C Sr. 6-10 4.5

Jack Owens G Sr. 6-0 12.3

Kyle Hill G So. 6-2 15.8

Series: EIU leads 11-5

Last Year: The teams split two overtime games

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