SE SERVES UP 87-61 ROUT TO SKYHAWKS ON 16 `TREYS'

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner was worried his Indians might not take Tennessee-Martin seriously enough Thursday night.

The Skyhawks should have been so lucky.

Once again setting a new school record for 3-point baskets, the Indians hammered the Skyhawks 87-61 in front of 4,624 fans at the Show Me Center.

The victory sets up a huge game Saturday night when Ohio Valley Conference leader Murray State comes to town for Southeast's final regular-season home contest.

"I was really worried we might look past them (the Skyhawks)," said Garner following the lopsided triumph. "I didn't think we would, since we lost to them in double overtime earlier. But with Murray coming up, that's always a possibility."

Southeast, by winning for the fifth time in its last six games, improved to 13-11 overall and 9-7 in OVC play.

But the Indians received some bad news from around the conference. Austin Peay upended Middle Tennessee in overtime, meaning the Govs (9-6 in OVC play) remained one-half game ahead of the fifth-place Indians in the all-important battle for fourth place.

The top four teams earn first-round home games for the league tournament. Southeast has two games left -- both tough ones against Murray and at Eastern Illinois -- while Austin Peay has three games left -- two winnable ones against Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin and a tough one at Murray.

"Now it looks like we'll probably have to win our last two in order to get fourth," Garner said.

While the coach might have been disappointed that Middle Tennessee did not help his team, he certainly wasn't disappointed in the way the Indians played.

Southeast trailed only briefly in the early going before taking control and moving out to a 41-30 halftime lead.

The Indians then scored the first 11 points of the second half to make the game a total blowout. Southeast led 82-47 with just under eight minutes left when Garner totally cleared his bench; otherwise, the score probably would have been much, much worse.

"I thought we were kind of up and down in the first half," Garner said. "But I really liked the way we came out in the second half. We really came out with a lot of confidence."

Southeast bombed home 16 3-pointers (in 33 attempts) to set a school record. This group of Indians had earlier in the season established the school mark of 15 against Eastern Kentucky. Southeast has 45 treys in its last three games.

Point guard Kahn Cotton continued his recent exceptional play with 19 points, seven assists and three steals.

Calvert White and Nathan Owen both scored 14 points while David Montgomery added 13, 10 in the first half. Montgomery also blocked three shots.

"At halftime coach said he wanted us to come out with a lot of intensity in the second half," said White, who led Southeast's rebounders with eight. "This is a big confidence boost for us going into the Murray game."

White and Owen both hit four 3-pointers while Cotton and Cory Johnson added three apiece.

The record 16th trey was made by reserve guard Lakeo Keller, who bombed home a shot with 3:56 left in the game.

UTM (7-17 overall, 5-10 OVC) got 14 points from both Joe Crumby and Ryan DeMichael. Crumby also pulled down 14 rebounds.

Southeast shot 57 percent from the field (32 of 56) and limited the Skyhawks to 44 percent shooting (24 of 55).

The Skyhawks beat the Indians 91-82 in double overtime on Jan. 15 in Martin, Tenn. In that game, UTM shot 56 percent from the field and hit 11 of 17 3-pointers, led by Jason Ohlsen's 31 points.

Thursday, the Skyhawks were just three of 11 from 3-point range and Ohlsen -- with Cotton shadowing his every move -- scored just two points.

"Kahn did just a great job on Ohlsen," said Garner. "He never let him get going."

Now the Indians will turn their attentions to high-flying Murray State, which is 23-3 overall, 13-2 in OVC play -- and hammered Southeast 101-66 on Jan. 17 in Murray, Ky.