SE christens OVC schedule against EIU

Indians face difficult task of stopping Panthers' Domercant.

By Marty Mishow ~ Southeast Missourian

Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner doesn't want to put too much pressure on his team regarding tonight's Ohio Valley Conference opener.

But Garner also isn't about to underscore the importance of the 7:30 p.m. game against Eastern Illinois at the Show Me Center. The Indians are 5-6 overall and the Panthers are 4-7 as both have faced rugged schedules.

"This is our biggest game of the year because it's our first conference game," Garner said. "If you lose, it's not the end of the world because you still have 15 conference games left.

"But it's really important. It's important to both teams, but more important to us because it's at home."

EIU coach Rick Samuels also stressed the importance of the contest, but he knows the Panthers have their work cut out for them during the early part of the league schedule as their first three games are away from home.

"The first one is always important, but we've had our troubles at SEMO the past few years just even being competitive," Samuels said. "Anything we can get on the road is a bonus. We'll see if we can squeeze one out."

Southeast has beaten EIU four straight times at the Show Me Center, with three of the wins coming by at least 11 points, including last year's 102-87 triumph.

But Garner is looking for nothing but a close game tonight.

"I think we're going to have a lot of close games this year and how we do in those will have a big impact on what kind of season we have," Garner said. "Eastern Illinois is a good team and we're looking for an extremely tough game."

Any talk about the Panthers begins with 6-foot-4 senior guard Henry Domercant, the reigning OVC Player of the Year who has been one of the nation's top scorers the past three seasons.

Domercant is averaging 26.5 points per game, which leads the OVC and ranks second nationally. Domercant was second in the nation last season (26.4 ppg) and fourth as a sophomore (22.8 ppg).

"He's just a great player," Garner said.

Southeast knows as well as any team just how good Domercant is. Last season he lit the Indians up for 77 points in two games, although they could have very well won both contests.

The Indians led EIU by 18 points midway through the second half of last year's OVC opener in Charleston, Ill., but the Panthers rallied for an 84-74 victory. Domercant scored 38 points.

During the rematch in Cape Girardeau, Domercant poured in 39 points but the Indians pulled away late to prevail 102-87.

"He lights us up like a Christmas tree. He's just really hard to defend," Garner said.

Garner said Southeast sophomore guard Brett Hale would begin tonight's game assigned to Domercant.

"But we'll do different things on him and use different players on him," Garner said. "We're not going to hold him to 10 points, but we don't want him to have 38 or 39. He's going to get his 15 or 20 shots, you just hope he has a bad shooting night."

Domercant, who is shooting 37 percent from 3-point range, is not the only offensive threat that concerns Garner.

J.R. Reynolds, a 6-4 senior guard, averages 12.2 points per game and shoots nearly 41 percent from 3-point range. Jesse Mackinson, a 6-8 junior center, is EIU's other double-figure scorer (10 ppg).

"Reynolds is an outstanding 3-point shooter, and he shoots it with great range. We can't let him have a career night on us," Garner said. "And Mackinson is a good athlete who can score."

Samuels, whose squad has lost to three nationally-ranked teams -- Illinois, Florida and Marquette -- has similar concerns about trying to shut down Southeast.

The Indians feature four double-figure scorers in sophomore guard Derek Winans (14.4 ppg), junior forward Damarcus Hence (12.6 ppg), junior center Brandon Griffin (12.4 ppg) and senior forward Tim Scheer (11.6 ppg). Winans scored 32 points in last year's win over EIU.

Griffin is the OVC's top rebounder with 10.5 per game while point guards Kevin Roberts and Winans rank one-two in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio.

"I like their team," Samuels said. "I'm sure Gary would like to have a little more depth, but they have a nice balance. Their perimeter kids are hard to guard, Winans has great energy and moves so well off the ball, and their big kid in the middle, what a great addition he's been, just in terms of physical play and getting rebounds."