SE PULLS RANK ON COLONELS; SHUMATE POCKETS WIN NO. 300 AT SOUTHEAST 70-68

Ron Shumate gained his 300th victory as Southeast Missouri State University's basketball coach Saturday.

But the milestone aside, Shumate was even more pleased with what the pulsating 70-68 win over Eastern Kentucky did for the Indians in the overall picture of the Ohio Valley Conference.

Southeast improved to 6-9 overall and 3-1 in OVC play with its third straight victory, recorded in front of 4,210 fans at the Show Me Center. A win over visiting Morehead State Monday night would give the Indians a perfect 3-0 homestand as they head back out on the road.

"If we can get past Morehead State it will give us a lot of momentum," said Shumate, who is now 300-162 in his 16th season at Southeast and 439-223 overall in his 23rd season as a collegiate head coach. "This was a big win for us."

And an extremely hard-earned one, which did not surprise Shumate in the least. The Indians had to survive an EKU shot at the buzzer that would have forced overtime but rimmed out.

"Eastern Kentucky has a good team. We knew going in that it was going to be a really tough ballgame," Shumate said. "Our kids stepped up late in the game."

The Colonels fell to 4-10 overall and 2-2 in OVC play.

"There were a lot of spurts in the game," said EKU coach Mike Calhoun. "SEMO made some big plays at the end. They have a good team and they probably have as good a chance as anybody in the league."

Bud Eley, the Indians' 6-foot-10 junior center who is Southeast's leading scorer on the season, led the way with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Southeast's next two leading scorers were a pair of junior-college transfers who came off the bench.

Richard Lyte, a 6-6 junior forward, had the highest-scoring game of his young Southeast career with 14 points as he was named the Copi-Rite Player of the Game.

"I practiced hard all week. Hard work and dedication paid off," said Lyte. "We knew the game would be close. It was a hard-fought victory, but we did it."

Lakeo Keller, a 5-10 junior guard, also had the highest-scoring game of his young career as an Indian with 15 points. He hit three of five 3-point shots and also dished out four assists.

"Richard really came off the bench and played well," Shumate said. "It was good to see him step up.

"Lakeo did a good job. I've always tried to have two point guards to play equally. He played 29 minutes tonight and Allen (Hatchett) played 27."

EKU got 19 points from 6-11 Louisville transfer Matt Simons, who waged a spirited inside battle with Eley. Daniel Sutton added 16 points and Travis Inskeep had 11.

The Indians shot 50 percent from the field (27 of 54) and had a 41-27 rebounding edge, but the Colonels took care of the basketball -- they had just nine turnovers -- and stayed in the contest the whole way.

"I was disappointed in our rebounding and shooting (43 percent), but we took care of the ball well," Calhoun said.

Despite 11 points from Keller, the Indians -- who led much of the first half, including by six points at 23-17 -- fell behind 35-32 at the intermission. Simons had 10 first-half points for the Colonels.

Southeast scored the first seven points of the second half to go ahead 39-35. EKU regained the lead at 41-40, but then a 10-0 Southeast run appeared to give the Indians command of the contest at 50-41 with 13:20 remaining.

EKU, however, refused to buckle. The Colonels went on a 9-0 run to forge a 50-50 tie, then eventually grabbed a 54-52 lead.

Eley's basket made it 54-54, then Lyte hit one of two free throws and Eley scored to put the Indians ahead 57-54.

Another Eley basket with 5:37 remaining put the Indians ahead 61-58. Southeast then had four straight possessions to increase the lead, but all four resulted in turnovers.

The Colonels finally tied things again at 61 on a 3-pointer by Chris Fitzgerald at the four-minute mark.

Devron Kirksey scored on a follow shot to put the Indians up 63-61 and Simons answered to force yet another deadlock at 63.

Keller broke the press with a long pass to Eley, who dunked for a 65-63 Southeast lead with 2:45 remaining.

After an EKU miss, Keller nailed a 17-footer with 1:57 left to put the Indians ahead 67-63.

Another basket by Simons made it 67-65. Eley's bucket with 1:13 remaining made it 69-65, but Inskeep drained a 3-pointer with 47 seconds left to pull EKU within 69-68.

Southeast turned the ball over, but Eley stole a pass and drove to the basket. He was fouled with eight seconds left and hit one of two free throws to make it 70-68.

EKU came back down and got off a good shot, but Sutton's 15-footer rimmed out at the buzzer.

"We had 'em all the way, didn't we," said Shumate with a smile.

Then speaking about his 300th win as Southeast's coach, Shumate said, "I thought about it a bunch and I want to give all the credit to my players over the years."