SE STILL SMARTING AFTER LOSS TO TECH

It maybe wasn't quite as bad as the two buzzer-beating losses against Murray State two years ago, one of which kept his team out of the NCAA Tournament.

But Southeast Missouri State University men's basketball coach Gary Garner said Saturday night's 70-68 defeat at the hands of visiting Tennessee Tech was still one of the tougher losses he's had to endure in his three-plus seasons with the Indians.

"It was one the most disappointing losses since I've been here," said Garner during his weekly media conference Monday. "To win the conference, you have to protect your home court. We weren't able to do that.

"One of our goals is to win the league. It still is. That's why it's so disappointing. If it had been on the road, it would have hurt, but not as much."

By falling in the only Ohio Valley Conference game that will be played until January, the defending regular-season co-champion Indians will find themselves at the bottom of the league standings for at least a few more weeks.

"Now we'll be in last place in the conference until at least early January," Garner said. "We'll put that up (in the locker room) and use it for motivation."

Garner pointed out that it's not like the Indians, who are 5-3 overall, lost to a slouch Saturday. Tech's Golden Eagles are expected to be among the OVC's better teams and they had been road-hardened by playing six of their first seven games away from home, including a win at South Carolina.

"Tennessee Tech is a good basketball team. If you remember, I picked them as a darkhorse (in the league race)," said Garner. "We should have won the game, but it's not like we lost to a slouch."

Two areas that have plagued the Indians all season so far continued to hurt them Saturday: rebounding, particularly on the offensive end, and a lack of inside scoring.

Only once this season, against lowly Robert Morris, have the Indians outrebounded an opponent. They have been outrebounded six times and were even on the boards against Division II Missouri-Rolla.

While the Indians were only outrebounded by four (35-31) against Tech, the Eagles grabbed six more offensive rebounds than Southeast and had 17 second-chance points. Tech's eventual winning basket, with 1:26 remaining, came during the third shot of a possession as the Eagles grabbed two straight offensive boards.

"Rebounding is our biggest concern," Garner said. "We just have to continue to work on it, but it's a thing that's hard to correct.

"The biggest thing (in rebounding) is being aggressive and just wanting it. Roderick Johnson and Brian Bunche (last year's two leading rebounders) were that way."

As for the inside scoring, the Indians had just 13 points from their players at the center and power forward positions Saturday. During Tuesday's 87-84 win over Southern Illinois, the players at those two spots had just 11 points, but Southeast prevailed because its perimeter people had monster games.

"We're getting too big a percentage of our points from the perimeter," said Garner. "We need more inside scoring. Part of it is my fault. We're not getting the ball inside enough. It's got to go inside more, even if they don't shoot it."

Rebounding and inside scoring figure to be vital again during the Indians' next game, a non-conference home contest against Southwest Missouri State at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The Bears (3-2) are extremely strong inside, with three frontcourt players averaging in double figures. They are outrebounding the opposition by an average of six per game while Southeast is lagging on the boards by an average of four per contest and the Indians have grabbed just 80 offensive boards to 114 for their opponents, which is a staggering discrepancy.

"Rebounding will be our biggest area of concern (Saturday)," Garner said. "Southwest is a very good basketball team, big and strong across the front."

* Junior forward Monte Gordon, who earned his first start of the season against Southern Illinois and was scheduled to start against Tech, instead did not play at all because of recurring back problems. Gordon is likely to see action against Southwest Missouri.

"Monte could have played (against Tech), but his back is such that we didn't think he'd be effective enough," said Garner. "It's a muscle spasm thing."

Of more concern to Garner is the foot injury of senior Amory Sanders, Southeast's top 3-point shooter (55 percent) and fourth-leading scorer (10.5 ppg).

Sanders hasn't missed any time because of the injury, but he was clearly hobbled against Tech.

"Amory has a deep bone contusion. He has to play in pain," Garner said. "That bothers me (more than Gordon's injury)."

* Murray State senior guard/forward Ray Cunningham, the Racers' second-leading returning scorer from last season, is no longer with the team.

Cunningham has been embroiled in legal problems stemming from an offseason incident. He was suspended for the first regular-season contest, played in two games and then was suspended again.

A school judicial board last week upheld his most recent suspension, which was handed down by the athletic department, meaning Cunningham's college career is over.