SEMO DISAPPOINTED, ENCOURAGED BY NEAR-MISS; INDIANS ALMOST PULLED OFF BIGGEST WIN EVER

Southeast Missouri State University's basketball players were understandably disappointed by Saturday night's near-upset of Missouri in Columbia.

But the Indians were also understandably proud of their effort that very nearly netted Southeast its first-ever win over the state's perennial major basketball power.

If point guard Kahn Cotton's open 12-foot shot in the lane in the closing seconds had dropped -- and it narrowly missed -- the Indians would be celebrating their biggest win ever right now instead of having to settle for an encouraging yet heart-breaking 65-64 defeat that dropped their record to 4-4.

"I thought it was good," said Cotton, who had another strong all-around game in directing the Indians, after the contest. "We played together as a team tonight. I think we should have won."

Southeast coach Gary Garner took an interesting approach after the game, speaking almost like his team had won instead of lost.

"Why do we let one point distract from how well you played?" wondered Garner. "If Kahn's shot had gone, we'd be talking about how great we played. I'm really proud of our team and I feel really good about us."

Despite playing without leading scorer and rebounder Bud Eley -- the Indians' 6-foot-10 center who broke his foot against SIU on Thursday night and will miss about four weeks -- the Indians took the fight to the Tigers.

The Indians elected to employ a patient game against the Tigers without their big inside presence, milking the shot clock much of the night before getting into their offense.

And that strategy worked extremely well. Except for the final 5:21 of the first half -- when Southeast went scoreless to fall behind by a point at halftime -- the Indians were able to break down MU's defense most of the night for high-percentage shots. Southeast wound up shooting 54.7 percent from the field (29 of 53).

Southeast placed all five starters in double figures, led by David Montgomery with 14 points.

"We played well, but it hurt not winning," said Montgomery, who hit seven of nine shots.

Cory Johnson had 12 points, Cotton got 11 and Calvert White and Demetrius Watson added 10 apiece.

Watson, a 6-foot-4 junior, took Eley's place in the starting lineup, moving over to forward, with Montgomery in the middle. Watson more than held his own against the bigger Tigers, hitting five of six shots and also grabbing five rebounds.

In Eley's absence, Watson and senior forward Travis Smith will both be asked to increase their load considerably. And both came through in a big way Saturday. Smith, seeing by far his most extensive action of the season by playing 24 minutes, had five points and a team-high eight rebounds.

"We felt we had a chance to win," Smith said.

What might have hurt the Indians more than anything were the 13 offensive rebounds that MU grabbed in the second half, many of them coming down the stretch when Southeast might have been able to secure control of the game with some timely rebounding.

And it wasn't like the Indians were really doing anything wrong with their overall rebounding, because they won the battle of the boards 35-31.

But two of MU's superior athletes -- Kelly Thames and Tyron Lee -- simply went higher than the Indians several times in key situations to grab big offensive rebounds. Thames and Lee combined for seven offensive boards in the second half.

Probably the most critical of those offensive rebounds came in the game's closing seconds, after Southeast had gone ahead 64-63 on White's dunk with 40 seconds left.

MU's John Woods missed a shot with about 25 seconds left, but the Tigers were able to corral the rebound. That led to Lee being fouled inside on a drive to the basket with 13 seconds left. His two free throws accounted for the game's final points.

Those rebounding problems down the stretch is a major reason why Garner knows -- no matter how impressive his team was Saturday -- that the Indians desperately need Eley in the lineup.

"We need to get Bud back," Garner said. "We really miss his presence inside."

The Indians will have another non-conference game Thursday night, playing host to Division II Truman State.