SE FINDS CHARITY STRIPE UN-BEAR-ABLE; SOUTHWEST DEFEATS INDIANS 67-56

SPRINGFIELD -- With an assist from Southeast Missouri State University's Indians, Southwest Missouri State's Bears are just one victory away from winning the unofficial state championship.

The Bears defeated the Indians 67-56 Tuesday night in front of 6,584 fans at the Hammons Center.

Southwest, which improved its record to 8-2, has now beaten three of the other four in-state Division I teams this season, having earlier defeated Missouri and Missouri-Kansas City.

The Bears can make it a clean sweep of Missouri on Jan. 2 when they visit Saint Louis.

Southeast fell to 6-3. While the loss was disappointing for the Indians, it was a non-league setback, meaning Southeast is still atop the Ohio Valley Conference standings with a 3-0 mark.

"You're always disappointed when you lose," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "I don't feel like we played very well. Southwest Missouri has a very good basketball team."

Southeast shot just 31 percent from the field, on 19 of 61. Southwest wasn't a whole lot better, shooting only 42 percent on 18 of 43.

But the Bears had a huge advantage from the free-throw line, hitting 30 of 47 attempts. The Indians attempted only 17 foul shots, making 11.

Commenting on the huge difference in free throws, Garner said, "You always wonder about that. I'll have to look at the tape. But you're not going to win when you shoot 17 free throws and the other team shoots 47 free throws.

"The fouls disrupted the whole ballgame. We were in foul trouble the whole game."

Bud Eley did his best to keep the Indians close the entire night, scoring 13 points and pulling down a career-high 21 rebounds.

"Bud had a great game," Garner said. "He really played hard."

Roderick Johnson and Kahn Cotton each scored 12 points for the Indians.

Southwest got 17 points from Kevin Ault, who broke out of a recent shooting slump by hitting six of 10 shots. Danny Moore, the Bears' 6-foot-11 center, added 12 points. Ryan Bettenhausen came off the bench to score 11 and William Fontleroy added 10.

The Indians held a few early leads, including a 7-4 advantage when Cory Johnson hit a 3-point basket just over five minutes into the first half.

After the Indians fell behind, Cotton's 3-pointer forged a 16-16 tie, but the Bears then scored six straight points to go ahead for good.

Roderick Johnson's basket and free throw pulled the Indians to within 22-19, but the Bears went on an 8-0 run to go up 30-19. It was 30-21 at halftime.

Ault scored early in the second half to put the Bears ahead 32-21. The Indians pulled to within 32-25, but that's as close as they would get.

Southwest quickly opened up a 35-25 lead and it later grew to 57-39.

Southeast made a belated rally, using a 5-0 run to climb within 57-44 at the three-minute mark.

Eley's three-point play with 2:33 left drew the Indians even closer at 59-48. Jeramy Biles nailed a 3-pointer with 1:30 remaining to make it 61-51 and Cotton drilled a trey at the 58-second mark to slice the deficit to 61-54.

But the Bears were able to ice the victory with free throws in the closing seconds.

"I thought our defense was good enough to win the game," said Garner. "But they were able to stay ahead at the free-throw line. They basically were at the line the entire night."