SEVERAL INDIANS AT HOME IN DOME

For a few Southeast Missouri State University basketball players, Monday's game against Southern Illinois at the Trans World Dome in St. Louis will no doubt hold special significance.

Two of the Indians' key players, forwards Mike Branson and Demetrius Watson, grew up in St. Louis and attended high school there, Branson at Lafayette and Watson at Roosevelt.

Another of the Indians' key performers, Charleston High product Jeramy Biles, was the starting point guard for Saint Louis University during the 1996-97 season. He earned Conference USA All-Freshmen Team honors before transferring to Southeast.

Yet another Southeast player, walkon freshman guard Ben Pranger, is also from St. Louis, having attended Chaminade High School.

"I'm sure it's going to be exciting for those guys to be playing in their home town," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "And it's going to be exciting for the entire basketball team to be playing in a place like the TWA Dome, where NCAA Regionals and even a Final Four will be played."

Three NCAA Regionals -- including next March -- will be played at the TWA Dome before the Final Four is held there in 2005.

The Southeast-SIU game, scheduled to tip off at 5:15 p.m., is part of a college basketball doubleheader dubbed the `Earth Grains Classic.' Saint Louis and Kansas State will square off at 8 p.m.

"It should be a great night of basketball," Garner said.

Although tickets can no longer be purchased locally, plenty of tickets are available at the TWA Dome box office and Capital Ticket outlets or through Dialtix (314-989-8000). Tickets will also be available at the TWA Dome the day of the game.

* When the season started, Garner figured if the Indians could some how -- some way -- be around the .500 mark entering 1999, he would be extremely happy.

That's because some of Southeast's best opponents during the entire season were on the pre-January portion of the schedule.

But the Indians have come out of an especially tough part of their schedule in relatively good shape, with a 6-3 record. That includes victories at Arkansas State, Tennessee State and Austin Peay -- teams that entering the season would probably have rated as favorites over Southeast.

Among the losses the Indians have suffered are setbacks at Bradley and Southwest Missouri, and at home against Louisiana Tech. All are among the more talented teams on Southeast's schedule.

What it all means is that the Indians are assured of entering the new year with at least a .500 record. Monday's game against SIU figures to be especially pivotal because Southeast will be a heavy underdog Wednesday night against Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

While a 6-5 record going into January certainly would be acceptable -- especially since the Indians will take a 3-0 Ohio Valley Conference record into the new year -- 7-4 would definitely sound a whole lot better.

SIU, under first-year coach Bruce Weber -- who was, ironically, a finalist for the Southeast job in 1997 before Garner was hired -- has been up and down so far. The Salukis are 3-5, but they own a 12-point win over the same Saint Louis squad that just upset Kansas.

The Salukis played unbeaten Murray State to the wire in the season opener. And other losses have been to highly-regarded Creighton, Southwest Missouri and Oregon.

"Southern Illinois has a talented team," said Garner. "They started kind of slow, but they've really picked it up. Beating a team like Saint Louis, which just defeated Kansas, tells you the kind of players they have."

Oklahoma State, the preseason Big 12 Conference favorite, has been nationally ranked most of the season. The Cowboys, 7-3, have suffered a couple of surprising defeats, but they will no doubt be the most talented team the Indians will face all year.

The Cowboys are coached by the legendary Eddie Sutton, who has more than 600 career victories to his credit. Sutton is the only coach to ever take four different teams to the NCAA Tournament.

In addition to Oklahoma State, Sutton has also led Kentucky, Arkansas and Creighton to the NCAA tourney.

"I don't think there's any question that Oklahoma State will be the most talented team we play all season," Garner said. "It would be really great to win the SIU game before we head out to Oklahoma. But that won't be easy."

* Senior guard Cory Johnson finally missed a free throw during Tuesday's 67-56 loss at Southwest Missouri.

Johnson had hit his first 20 foul shots of the season. He made it 21 in a row Tuesday before missing the second of a two-shot situation.

* Senior center Bud Eley continues to lead the Indians in scoring at 14.6 points per game and he increased his team-high rebounding average to 9.2 after pulling down a career-high 21 boards against Southwest Missouri.

Junior forward Roderick Johnson, averaging 12.3 points per game, continues to lead the OVC in field-goal shooting with a sizzling 65 percent.