SE SHOOTERS FIND ZONE, RIDDLE EKU; INDIANS SINK 15 3-POINTERS, WIN 97-78

Southeast Missouri State University basketball coach Gary Garner was especially elated that he made it back to Cape Girardeau for Saturday night's game against Eastern Kentucky.

Garner was able to witness a scintillating performance by the Indians, who clicked on all cylinders during a 97-78 Ohio Valley Conference romp.

A boisterous Show Me Center crowd of 5,713 saw the Indians win their second straight game and improve to 10-10 overall, 6-6 in OVC play.

EKU fell to 5-14 overall, 4-8 in the league.

Garner was in Fort Myers, Fla., early Saturday as he and a group from Southeast met in front of the NCAA Infractions Committee as part of an ongoing investigation of the school's men's basketball program.

But Garner was able to catch an afternoon flight out of Fort Myers back to St. Louis. He arrived in Cape Girardeau in plenty of time for the game.

"Boy, if I had missed this one..." said a smiling Garner after the contest. "We really had another consistent, 40-minute performance."

Coming off a 99-79 rout of Morehead State two nights earlier, the Indians for the second straight game shot better than 55 percent from the field and better than 80 percent from the free-throw line.

Saturday, Southeast was 31 of 56 from the field (55 percent) and 20 of 24 from the line (83 percent). They also had 21 assists as compared to 13 turnovers, which most coaches will take any time.

Southeast also hit a school-record 15 3-pointers (in 30 attempts) after nailing 13 treys against Morehead. The previous school mark for 3-pointers was 14.

The Indians, who never trailed in the game, jumped on the Colonels from the start as they used an early barrage of 3-pointers to build a 19-8 lead less than five minutes into the contest.

With just under eight minutes elapsed, Southeast's lead had ballooned to 29-10 and, really, it was never a contest the rest of the night.

Ten points was the closest EKU could get the remainder of the way. The Indians led 52-34 at halftime and fought off every challenge by the Colonels in the second half.

"We knew we had to come out and play really intense early," said Southeast junior guard Cory Johnson. "We wanted to get on them and that's what happened."

Johnson, the Indians' premier marksman, set the early tone by scoring all 22 of his points in the first half. With EKU content to play a zone much of the opening 20 minutes, Johnson hit six of eight 3-pointers as the Indians were 11 of 20 from long range in the first half.

With EKU intent on shutting the Indians down from long range in the second half, it was time for 6-8 junior center David Montgomery to take over. Montgomery scored 16 points after halftime and finished with 22. He also pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds.

"Cory and everybody else was hitting the threes early," said Montgomery. "Then that opened up the inside. If we're hitting threes like that, we're tough to beat."

Junior point guard Kahn Cotton continued his recent all-around brilliant play with 22 points, four assists, two steals and only one turnover.

"We came out strong tonight," Cotton said. "We knew we had to."

The other two starters, Calvert White and Nathan Owen, both were solid with 10 points apiece and White also dished out a game-high eight assists along with grabbing seven rebounds.

Southeast also once again got strong work off the bench from several players, including Lakeo Keller (five points) and walk-on Matt Morris (three points, four rebounds, two assists).

"It was another really good team effort for us," Garner said. "Since we lost Bud (Eley) and Demetrius (Watson), we've been wanting to push the ball and get threes off the break.

"Kahn is doing a great job of pushing the ball and finding the open man. He's playing his best basketball of the season. David had probably his best game of the season. He really played strong. And what can you say about Cory. And Matt Morris is really coming on."

With the Indians safely in control as the clock ticked down, the only remaining suspense was whether they would be able to break the school's 3-point record.

The mark finally fell with 23 seconds left as Dewayne Saulsberry bombed home a trey from the deep right corner, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

It was that kind of night all around for the Indians.

And Garner was elated he got to see it.

Now the Indians will turn their attentions to a big three-game road trip beginning Monday with a 7 p.m. contest at Austin Peay.