SE STOMPS WOLVERINES

Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team got its expected rout Wednesday night as the Indians destroyed visiting Morris Brown 83-50.

But Southeast coach Gary Garner, despite his squad barely having to work up a sweat, said the late-season, non-conference game still served a solid purpose.

"We got out of this game what we needed to get out of it," said Garner, whose squad will close out the regular season with three Ohio Valley Conference home games. "If we hadn't scheduled this game, we would have had five straight practices (prior to Saturday's contest against Eastern Illinois) and that's too may this late in the year."

The romp at the Show Me Center in front of an announced crowd of 4,106 -- there were quite a few no-shows among that total --improved the Indians' overall record to 15-11 as they won their second straight game.

And the lopsided victory allowed Garner to clear his bench early and often. Eleven of Southeast's 12 players in uniform got into the game -- guard Amory Sanders, the nation's leading 3-point shooter, did not play in order to rest his ailing foot --and all 11 scored as every one played at least nine minutes.

"We got a good lead and we were able to get different players into the game," Garner said.

Sophomore forward Tim Scheer came off the bench to lead all scorers with 16 points as he hit seven of eight shots from the field.

"I think a game like this brings the team together because everybody got to play a lot," said Scheer. "It's good if we can use this for some momentum."

Senior point guard Michael Stokes was the Indians' only other double-figure scorer with 15 points. He also dished out five assists.

Senior swingman Emmanuel McCuthison, sophomore forward Drew DeMond and senior guard Antonio Short all had nine points.

DeMond, ranked third in the OVC in blocked shots, had three rejections to go along with four assists and a team-high six rebounds. McCuthison blocked two shots.

Redshirt freshman forward Damarcus Hence continued his recent strong play off the bench as he scored eight points. Hence, after playing very little for most of the season, has become a key contributor down the stretch.

"It feels good to be contributing," Hence said. "I'm just trying to get it (his confidence) going for (OVC) tournament play."

True freshman point guard Joel Shelton had a team-high six assists, several of them spectacular dishes that led to dunks in the second half.

"I thought our young guys really played well tonight," said Garner, singling out Shelton, Hence and Scheer. "Joel made some great passes."

The Indians shot 71.4 percent in the first half (15 of 21) in building a 44-21 lead. Southeast, which led by 39 in the late going, ended up shooting 61.2 percent (30 of 49). The Indians made nine of 18 from 3-point range.

But things will definitely be a lot tougher Saturday night when Eastern Illinois comes to the Show Me Center. The Panthers are in contention for the OVC title while the Indians are simply trying to keep gaining momentum leading up to the league tournament.

"Saturday's game will be huge," Scheer said. "The intensity will be a lot higher."