UMSL BLOWS PAST INDIANS IN LEAGUE OPENER

ST. LOUIS One serious second-half run isn't enough to put a Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association opponent like Missouri-St. Louis out of contention.

In fact, Southeast Missouri State's 16-3 run early in the second half wasn't enough firepower to stun the Rivermen, who went on to post a convincing 85-67 victory over the Tribe here Wednesday night.

The contest marked the MIAA opener for both teams.

Southeast shook off a 44-29 deficit and went on to pull within a basket, 47-45, with just over 12 minutes left in the game.

But the Rivermen went on an 11-0 run to take a 58-45 lead and the Indians were never able to recover from that point on.

"We fought back with the run in the second half, but we weren't able to play well enough defensively to stop their transition game," said Southeast coach Ron Shumate.

"Chris Pilz had another great game for UMSL. We just didn't do a very good job against him tonight."

Pilz, who finished with a game-high 22 points, started UMSL's 11-0 run with a steal and subsequent layup.

"Chris Pilz just won't let us lose," said UMSL coach Rich Meckfessel, whose squad improved to 7-2 on the season. Southeast is now 9-3 overall and 0-1 in the MIAA.

"Pilz is the kind of player that everybody hates but he always seems to find a way to help us win," added the UMSL coach.

Thomas Thames led the Indians offensively with 12 points. Curtis Shelton and Devon Lake each added 11. Terrill Rolling chipped in with 10 points.

Shumate indicated the Indians will have to come up with a more inspired defensive effort against No. 2-ranked Central Missouri State Saturday if they are to have a chance to upend the undefeated Mules, now 11-0.

"Our players have to realize that on a night when they're not shooting well, they've got to rely on defense and we didn't do that tonight," said Shumate. "It's going to be a tremendous challenge against a team like Central Missouri. But that's the great thing about this game of basketball."

Southeast certainly failed to measure up to past Indian teams on defense.

"For years we've rode the crest of a wave of great defensive teams," said Shumate. "To be honest we just don't have the quickness up front to stop a team from moving the ball back and forth across the court. You wouldn't have seen teams do that to us in the past."

The second half opened the same as the first as the Indians committed turnovers that were converted into Rivermen baskets.

UMSL staked itself to a 44-29 lead after Pilz turned a steal into a layup.

The Indians went nearly three minutes before they scored their first basket of the second half. Danny Dohogne scored a layup and was fouled on the play, setting up a three-point play. Dohogne sank the free throw to pull the Indians with 13, 45-32.

Southeast trimmed the deficit to 10, 45-35, on a free throw by Rolling and subsequent basket by Lake. Lake grabbed the rebound from Rolling's missed free throw and scored via a layup.

Lake sank a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 45-37. Thames scored a layup to make it a six-point game, 45-39, with just under 15 minutes to play.

Rolling darted to make a steal off of a loose ball and scored from close range to bring the Tribe to within four, 47-43, with 14:09 left in the game.

Yet another steal turned into a slam dunk by Lake and the Indians were within a basket, 47-45. But Pilz converted a steal into a three-point play, giving the Rivermen a 50-45 advantage.

A three-point basket by Barry Graskewicz pushed UMSL's lead to eight, 53-45, with just under 12 minutes to play.

Clarence Ward nailed a three-point bucket to push UMSL's lead back to 11, 56-45.

Steve Roder's basket completed a 13-0 run for the Rivermen.

Kevin Hill completed a three-point play to give the Rivermen a 65-50 lead with just over seven minutes to play.

Southeast was unable to get back into the game from that point on and went down to defeat in its conference opener.

The Indians fell behind 17-8 in the early going as Pilz nailed a shot from 12 feet. Ward connected from three-point range and the Indians were looking at a 20-8 deficit with just over 12 minutes left in the half.

Southeast battled back and pulled to within five, 20-15, on a three-point bucket by Johnnie Coleman.

Graskewicz buried a three-point bucket to give the Rivermen a 29-17 advantage with just over five minutes left in the first half.

The Indians answered with a basket by James Barnes. But Pilz drilled a three-point basket to push UMSL's lead to 32-19.

Shelton connected from short range, but Graskewicz followed with his second three-point bomb of the half to give UMSL a 35-21 lead with four minutes left in the first half.

UMSL threatened to turn the game into an early rout, moving ahead 42-23 in the waning moments of the first half.

But Shelton nailed a pair of three-point baskets, his final long-range bomb coming from 25 feet, to put the Indians within 13, 42-29 by halftime.

Turnovers told much of the tale in the first half as Southeast committed 17 miscues while UMSL committed three.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI

TS6R,9R,11.5R,14R,16R,18R,20R Min FG 3PT FT Rb F Pt

Rolling 24 4-9 1-1 1-2 1 1 10

Dohogne 32 4-7 0-1 3-4 8 4 9

Thames 31 4-10 0-0 0-2 9 3 12

Shelton 35 3-8 2-5 3-4 3 2 11

Lewis 19 0-2 0-2 0-0 1 1 0

Jones 1 0-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0

Coleman 2 2-6 2-5 0-0 0 0 6

Lake 29 5-9 1-3 2-2 4 3 11

Braswell 10 1-4 0-1 0-0 2 4 2

Barnes 9 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 2 0

Derks 8 1-1 0-0 1-2 3 0 3

Team Rbs 8

Totals 200 25-61 6-19 10-16 44 20 67

MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS

TS6R,9R,11.5R,14R,16R,18R,20R Min FG 3PT FT Rb F Pt

Crawford 22 1-2 0-0 2-2 3 2 4

Sneed 11 1-3 0-0 0-0 3 3 2

Hill 29 5-8 0-0 2-3 2 4 12

Kynard 27 4-9 0-3 3-5 2 1 11

Pilz 33 8-15 2-4 4-5 2 1 22

Roder 23 1-3 0-0 4-6 1 2 6

Hill 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0

Carter 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0

Grskwcz 21 3-5 3-5 0-0 3 1 9

Ward 23 4-10 2-4 1-2 4 0 11

Moore 9 3-7 0-0 2-2 3 0 8

Team Rbs 10

Totals 200 30-62 7-16 18-25 36 15 89

TS14R,16R,18R,20RSOUTHEAST 29 38 - 67

MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS 42 43 - 85

Shooting percentages - FG: Southeast .410, UMSL .484. FT: Southeast .625, UMSL .720. Assists: Southeast 12 (Rolling 3, Shelton 2), UMSL 20 (Pilz 9, Kynard 5, Ward 4). Turnovers: Southeast 31, UMSL 14. Technical Fouls: none. A - 2,000 (est.).