Southeast collects its second win

When wins are as hard to come by as they have been for Southeast Missouri State University this season, the Indians will take them any way they can get them.

So the Indians were elated to squeeze out a 77-68 victory over Division II Lincoln Saturday afternoon at the Show Me Center.

The Indians improved to 2-8, with both victories coming over Division II teams. Lincoln, from Jefferson City, Mo., fell to 5-7.

"It's great to get a win," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "I go into the dressing room after every game and when you see the depression in the players, you feel for them. And then to go in after a win, it makes you feel good."

Southeast's victory was certainly hard-earned and much closer than the final score indicates as Lincoln, down 70-68, missed two point-blank shots in the closing seconds. The Indians then scored the game's final seven points.

"It's good to get a win against anybody," said junior forward Tim Scheer, who had a double-double with 21 points and 10 rebounds. "We executed down the stretch when it counted and got the defensive stops when it counted."

Said junior center Drew DeMond, who added 17 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots, "It feels so good to win. They were a good team, too."

Redshirt freshman guard Derek Winans joined Scheer in earning game-high scoring honors as he also put in 21 points and added five assists. Winans hit three of four 3-pointers and eight of nine free throws.

Junior point guard Kenny Johnson dished out eight assists as the Indians had a solid assist-to-turnover ratio of 17 to 12.

Lincoln, which featured several talented Division I transfers, received 17 points from former Nevada-Las Vegas player Kenny Dye. Jason Friday and Teran Tease both scored 14 points while Mario Davis added 10.

The extremely quick Blue Tigers repeatedly burned the Indians with one-on-one moves in the first half as they shot 59.4 percent (19 of 32) to lead 40-37 at the break after being ahead by 10 twice in the opening 20 minutes.

Southeast was able to pick up its defense in the second half, limiting the Blue Tigers to 37 percent shooting (10 of 27), and that helped spark the Indians' comeback.

"The big thing in the second half was we picked up our defensive intensity," DeMond said. "We didn't let them get so many easy baskets."

Southeast also improved offensively in the second half, shooting 52.2 percent (12 of 23) after hitting just 43.3 percent (13 of 30) in the opening period. The Indians were also solid from the free-throw line, connecting on 21 of 25 for 84 percent, including 15 of 18 in the second half.

Lincoln scored the first four points of the second half to go up 44-37, but then the Indians began their charge. They took their first lead since early in the game at 48-47 on a Johnson layup with 14:45 remaining.

And it wasn't just any layup. Johnson, looking to inbound the ball along the sideline in Lincoln's end of the court, bounced it off an unsuspecting Blue Tiger who had his back turned. Johnson quickly grabbed the ball on one bounce and streaked in for the basket. Southeast would not trail again.

The Indians continued to come and ultimately built their lead to 60-50 on a Scheer basket with 11 minutes to play. That completed an overall 23-6 run by Southeast.

Lincoln was far from finished, however. A 3-pointer by Davis with one minute remaining made it 70-68. After Johnson missed a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, the Blue Tigers had a golden opportunity to tie the contest as they barely missed twice from within a few feet of the basket.

DeMond was then fouled on a rebound with 15 seconds remaining and he made two free throws for a 72-68 lead. Winans came up with a steal and sank two foul shots to make it 74-68, then Winans got another steal and buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to account for the final margin.