SE PASSES FINAL EXHIBITION TEST BEFORE OPENER; SOUTHEAST DEFEATS CSKA OF BULGARIA 77-60

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball Indians claimed another routine exhibition victory Monday night, one that left Indians' coach Gary Garner feeling fairly good about his team.

But Garner knows there is still so much more work to be done."I thought we were a little more consistent tonight than in our first (exhibition) game," said Garner following a 77-60 breeze past CSKA of Bulgaria in front of 3,678 fans at the Show Me Center. "But we still have a long way to go, as do all teams right now."Our next few weeks of practice will be extremely important for us."Of course, the Indians won't have nearly that long to practice before their first 'real' game. Southeast tips off the season Saturday night when Division II Southern Illinois-Edwardsville comes to the Show Me Center."We're not ready (for a game)," said Garner, who added with a smile, "but I'm sure no team is right now."Roderick Johnson led the Indians offensively with 20 points as the junior forward hit seven of 11 shots from the field.

Senior center Bud Eley and senior guard Corey Johnson both added 14 points while junior center Brian Bunche contributed 11 and tied Eley for game-high rebounding honors with nine."The exhibition games have been good for us because it's let us get more used to each other and allowed us to work on things," said Corey Johnson. "But I think we're all looking forward to playing some real games."Garner had praise for the defense and rebounding of both Eley and Bunche."I thought Bud was really good defensively," he said. "That's what we need the most out of Bud, defense and rebounding."And Brian really did a good job in those two areas. He also made some really nice passes."Speaking of nice passes, sophomore point guard Jeramy Biles -- although he struggled with his shooting -- continued to dazzle Southeast fans with his nifty ballhandling and dazzling passing. Biles had six assists, several of them in spectacular fashion."Jeramy is getting a better understanding of our offense," Garner said. "He's really a pure point guard."Garner liked the improvement his team made defensively from the first exhibition contest, an 81-60 win over the Dreambuilders last week."We have a chance to be a good defensive basketball team if we really keep working at it," said Garner.

Iordan Bozov poured in 25 points for the Bulgarians as he hit 11 of 21 shots.

But Bulgaria couldn't match Southeast on the boards as the Indians grabbed 44 rebounds to only 28 for the foreign squad.

Corey Johnson drained two long 3-pointers at the outset to put the Indians ahead 6-1 and they were off and running.

Southeast led 22-6 early and by 23 points late in the first half. It was 48-29 at halftime. The Indians' largest second-half lead was 25 points on several occasions as Bulgaria never threatened to get back into the contest."We're substituting so much, it's really hard to get into any kind of consistent flow," Garner said. "But when we're way ahead, I'm going to put everybody in the game because there are so many games when you don't get that opportunity."INDIAN NOTES: Guards Kahn Cotton and Nathan Owen again sat out the game, as they had during the exhibition opener.

Cotton continues to be plagued by knee problems but Garner is hopefully his senior will return to practice Wednesday. Owen, who has a turf toe injury, will also practice later in the week.