SOUTHEST WINS FINALE

Even without its leading scorer, the Morehead State men's basketball team still proved to be a mighty formidable opponent for Southeast Missouri State University Saturday night.

But the Eagles, playing without freshman Ricky Minard (who was injured) and his 17-point average, couldn't quite prevent the Indians from closing out the regular season with a five-game winning streak.

MSU hung tough the entire way in front of 5,157 fans at the Show Me Center, but Southeast was able to hang on for a 63-61 victory.

The Indians improved to 18-11 overall and 8-8 in Ohio Valley Conference play as they wound up fifth in the nine-team league.

MSU fell to 12-14 overall and 6-10 in the conference.

Southeast will be the No. 5 seed for the first round of the OVC Tournament Tuesday night and the Indians will be on the road against the No. 4 seed.

But who Southeast's opening-round tourney opponent will be was still up in the air as the Southeast Missourian went to press Saturday night.

By virtue of Eastern Illinois' win over Eastern Kentucky, the Panthers and Murray State (which had already concluded its regular season) are assured of finishing in a second-place tie at 11-5.

Austin Peay, which entered Saturday at 10-5, was poised to make it a three-way tie for second by beating Tennessee State, but the Governors were losing that game by 13 at halftime at press time.

If there is a three-way tie for second, then Murray State would be the No. 4 seed (determined through a pre-game coin flip by OVC commissioner Dan Beebe, who was at the Show Me Center Saturday) and the Indians would face the Racers Tuesday.

However, if Austin Peay wound up losing to Tennessee State, then the Govs would finish in fourth place all alone and would host the Indians Tuesday.

Either way, Southeast coach Gary Garner was simply happy that the Indians were able to squeeze out a victory over the gritty Eagles.

"We wanted to end the season with a five-game winning streak and we were able to do that," said Garner. "We didn't play that well, but what's really good is if you can win and not play that well.

"And I thought Morehead State deserved a lot of credit. They were without their leading scorer but they really hung in there and we were fortunate to hold on at the end."

Michael Stokes paced a balanced Southeast offensive attack with 15 points. Also in double figures were Antonio Short with 12 points and Drew DeMond and Nyah Jones with 10 apiece. Short had seven assists, three steals and two blocked shots.

MSU got 17 points from Kyle Umberger, 13 from both Greg Hendricks and David Aliu and 11 from Marquis Sykes.

The Eagles held two early leads, at 2-0 and 4-2, and the squads were tied 6-6 when the Indians began to take charge.

Jones scored inside and Stokes followed with back-to-back 15-footers as the Indians moved ahead 12-6.

MSU got back to within two points twice, at 16-14 and 18-16. Then the Indians used a 7-0 run -- capped by a Jones basket -- to open up a 25-16 lead with just under seven minutes left before halftime.

A Stokes layup made it 29-18 for the Indians' biggest advantage of the opening period, which was matched at 34-23 on a 3-pointer by Damarcus Hence with 2:26 remaining.

But the Eagles scored the final five points of the half to pull within 34-28 at the intermission.

The Eagles proved to be as stubborn for much of the second half as they had been during the first.

Southeast appeared to be on the verge of breaking the game open as Tim Scheer drilled a 3-pointer and Stokes scored on a drive, giving the Indians a 48-38 lead with 11 minutes remaining.

But the Eagles came right back with a quick 5-0 run to pull within 48-45.

The Indians surged back ahead 52-45, but the Eagles then scored eight straight points and grabbed their first lead since the opening moments when Iker Lopez banked in a shot from five feet, making it 53-52 with 5:48 left.

Then Jones, having his second straight strong performance, scored on consecutive follow shots from in close. His first, with 5:32 left, gave the Indians the lead for good at 54-53.

After Jones put the Indians up 56-53, the Eagles scored to make it 56-55. Short came back with a 3-pointer for a 59-55 Southeast lead and another Short basket made it 61-55 with 3:19 remaining.

Still, the Eagles would not go away. Trailing 63-58, Umberger's conventional three-point play with under two minutes left pulled MSU to within 63-61.

Neither team could score the rest of the way. MSU had a golden opportunity to force overtime, but Sykes was just off on a driving shot in the closing seconds.

The Eagles still had one more opportunity after Jones missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1.3 seconds left. MSU called a timeout after grabbing the rebound with a second remaining. The Eagles, after throwing a long pass, actually got off a respectable shot, but Umberger's rushed 3-pointer was well off the mark.