TRIBE BRINGS DOWN MIGHTY OAKS WITH LITTLE TROUBLE

Oakland City proved to be a small obstacle as Southeast Missouri State University's men's basketball team set out in search of the program's best-ever Division I start Saturday night.

Southeast used two major runs at the start of each half to flick aside the Division II Mighty Oaks 79-45 in front of 4,576 fans at the Show Me Center.

So, for the first time since the school made the move up to the Division I level in 1991, Southeast has started out a season 5-0.

And that record represents the Indians' best start since the 1985-86 squad began the season with nine straight victories."Any way you slice it, we're 5-0, and that's a really good feeling," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "I can't tell you what winning does for your confidence, what it does for you at practice."I can see our confidence growing each game."Garner was understandably worried about a letdown following Thursday night's thrilling 84-79 Ohio Valley Conference win at Tennessee Tech.

And while the Indians might not have been on top of their game, they were certainly too strong for the squad from Oakland City, Ind.

The Indians scored the game's first 13 points, but the Mighty Oaks hung tough for the rest of the opening half and trailed just 32-23 at the intermission.

But any upset hopes Oakland City might have had were dashed quickly in the second half. Southeast scored the first 25 points and held the Mighty Oaks scoreless for nearly 10 minutes as the Indians broke the contest wide open."I thought the start of the game and the first 10 minutes of the second half were good," Garner said. "At halftime, we talked about the defensive end, and not letting them get good shots."The blowout allowed Garner to clear his bench as all 11 players who were in uniform saw action. That included three players Drew DeMond, Tim Scheer and walk-on Ryan Thomas who had seen only limited action previously this season."Those guys work so hard in practice, and it's great to reward them with playing time," said Garner. "A lot of games, you don't get that opportunity, but with the big lead, it was good to get everybody into the game."As has been the case all season, the Indians received strong contributions from a host of players.

For the fourth time in five games, a different player led Southeast in scoring. This time is was point guard Michael Stokes, who had 13 points, six rebounds, six assists and two steals.

Stokes, who has been the Indians' iron man so far this season -- he's averaging nearly 38 minutes per game -- got plenty of rest this time as he played only 29 minutes because of the lopsided nature of the contest.

Nyah Jones, the Indians' 6-foot-11 center who has been shooting 71 percent from the field and averaging nearly 10 points per game off the bench, scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds.

Roderick Johnson scored 11 points and pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds in just 17 minutes of action.

Amory Sanders and Emmanuel McCuthison also had 11 points each to round out Southeast's double-figure scorers.

Matt Morris, a walk-on guard who was one of the surprise heroes during the win at Tennessee Tech, had seven points.

DeMond had a strong showing with five points and five blocked shots while playing 14 minutes.

Oakland City (3-4), which won 23 games last season, had no player score in double figures. Wayne White and Jeremy Aigner led the Mighty Oaks with nine points apiece.

After falling behind 13-0 early, Oakland City hung tough and pulled to within 29-23 before Southeast scored the final three points of the first half to lead 32-23 at the break.

Then the Indians slapped on the defense to start the second half and broke things open. Oakland City did not score through the first 9:40 of the final half.

Southeast limited Oakland City to 29-percent shooting from the field. The Indians hit 48 percent of their shots. Southeast also held a 47-38 rebounding edge.