Jan. 18, 2001

Southeast Missouri at Eastern Illinois Lantz Gym, Charleston, Illinois 7:10 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 20, 2001

Southeast Missouri (10-6, 2-3 OVC) Probable Starters Ppg. Rpg.

F 23 Drew DeMond, 6-7, So. 3.5 3.8

F 15 Emmanuel McCuthison, 6-4, Sr. 13.5 5.3

C 50 Terry Rogers, 6-10, Jr. 7.0 5.3

G 12 Michael Stokes, 6-0, Sr. 12.9 4.6

G 05 Antonio Short, 6-2, Sr. 11.7 2.9

Off the Bench

03 Amory Sanders, 6-1, Sr. 9.7 2.2

10 Joel Shelton, 5-9, Fr. 2.6 0.9

20 Tim Scheer, 6-7, So. 4.5 2.9

24 Damarcus Hence, 6-6, Fr. 1.9 1.0

30 Monte Gordon, 6-5, Jr. 3.2 2.7

44 Daniel Weaver, 6-8, So. 3.2 2.2

54 Nyah Jones, 6-11, Sr. 4.8 2.8

Eastern Illinois (10-6, 3-2 OVC)

F 42 Todd Bergmann, 6-8, Jr. 5.1 3.1

F 44 Henry Domercant, 6-4, So. 25.2 7.0

C 04 Jan Thompson, 6-11, So. 2.8 3.8

G 11 Kyle Hill, 6-2, Sr. 22.6 5.8

G 12 Matt Britton, 6-1, Sr. 13.3 4.4

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri State is 10-6 overall and 2-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Southeast has OVC wins over Tennessee State and Tennessee-Martin with losses to Tennessee Tech, Austin Peay and Murray State. In non-conference action Southeast has wins over Truman State, Missouri-Rolla, Robert Morris, Cleveland State, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri, Campbell and Jackson State with losses to Toledo, Mississippi Valley State, and Houston. Eastern Illinois is 10-6 overall and 3-2 in the OVC. The Panthers are 6-0 at home this season.

TOP OFFENSE VS. TOP DEFENSE: Saturday's game between Southeast and Eastern Illinois will pit the OVC's top offensive team against the league's top defensive team. EIU leads the OVC in offense with 82.4 points per game while Southeast leads the league in defense, allowing just 65.8 points per game.

THE COACHES: Gary Garner is 68-35 in his fourth season at Southeast and is 315-199 in his 18th year as a collegiate head coach. He won a Division II national championship when he guided Fort Hays State to a 34-0 season in 1995-96. Known for having teams ready at tournament time, Garner has taken teams to the finals of conference tournaments in six of the last seven years and has won five of those title contests. Garner is 6-1 vs. Eastern Illinois. Rick Samuels is 302-288 in his 21st year at EIU.

THE SERIES: Southeast leads the series with Eastern Illinois 11-8 and has won the last six games in a row. The Indians have won the last three games played in Charleston.

LAST SEASON: Southeast won both games with Eastern Illinois, winning 77-66 at the Show Me Center and 72-71 at Charleston.

SOUTHEAST NOTES

INDIAN DEFENSE LEADS OVC: Southeast ranks first in OVC field goal percentage defense, scoring defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense. Southeast allows opponents to shoot .407 from the field, .308 from three and allows just 65.8 points per game. Last season, Southeast, Southeast ranked fifth nationally in field goal percentage defense (38%) and 17th nationally in scoring defense (61 ppg).

SANDERS THIRD NATIONALLY IN 3-POINT %: Amory Sanders leads the OVC and ranks third nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at .542. Sanders, who was 5-5 vs. Tennessee State and 7-10 from three in the win over Robert Morris, is 32-59 for the season.

ROGERS IS HOT: Southeast junior post player Terry Rogers is on a hot streak, connecting on 17 of his last 20 field goal attempts (.850) over the past four games.. Rogers was 6-6 from the field in a win over Tennessee State, 4-5 from the field in a loss to Austin Peay, 4-5 from the field against Murray State and 3-4 vs. Tennessee-Martin. In OVC games, Rogers is 17-22 (.773) from the field. He was OVC Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 8.

STOKES NAMED ALL-TOURNAMENT AT SUN CLASSIC: Senior guard Michael Stokes was named to the 40th Annual SunClassic all-tournament team after scoring 21 points, pulling down 10 rebounds and handing out four assists in the Indians consolation round win over Jackson State. It was the first double-double for a Southeast player this season. Stokes was the OVC Player of the Week on Dec. 18. He leads the team in assists, steals, free throw percentage and minutes played and is second in scoring and third in rebounding. Stokes, who has scored in double figures the last ten games, averages 13.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game. He is shooting .433 from the field, .364 from three and .790 from the line while playing an average of 33.1 minutes per game.

McCUTHISON LEADS TEAM IN SCORING AND REBOUNDING: Senior Emmanuel McCuthison is the Southeast leader in points and rebounds. He is averaging 13.5.points and 5.3. rebounds per game. McCuthison had a career high 29 points against Southern Illinois. Against SIU, McCuthison sizzled in the first half when he scored 20 points with 6-10 from the field, 4-5 from three and 4-6 from the line. For the game, McCuthison, nicknamed e-mail, was 9-18 from the field, 6-9 from three and 5-8 from the line. Earlier this season, he was named to the all-tournament team in the Energia Systems Thanksgiving Tournament in Kansas City

DEMOND ESTABLISHES NEW SUN CLASSIC RECORD: Drew DeMond established a new SunClassic tournament record for blocked shots with eight against Jackson State. DeMond's eight blocks also tied the Don Haskins Center record for blocked shots. After 15 games played this season, DeMond is second in the OVC with 25 blocks.

FOUR POSITION STARTER: Drew DeMond is the scheduled starter at the four position against Eastern Illinois. DeMond has started nine games, but Gordon, Tim Scheer, and Daniel Weaver have all had a shot at the starting role. Scheer has started four games, Gordon two games and Weaver one game.

CAREER HIGH FOR SCHEER: Tim Scheer came off the bench to sc ore a career high 17 points in the win over Tennessee-Martin. He also tied his career high for rebounds with seven.

SHORT IS STRONG VS. MURRAY: In the recent two-point loss to Murray State, Antonio Short led Southeast scorers with 17 points. He was 5-7 from the field, 3-4 from three and 4-5 from the line. He also had 3 assists while playing 38-minutes.

INJURIES: Freshman guard Joel Shelton continues to be bothered by back spasms but should be available for action against EIU. Monte Gordon missed the UTM game with the flu, but returned to practice on Monday and will be available for the EIU game. Amory Sanders continues to be bothered by a deep stone bruise on his foot. He missed three games and is limited in practice time, but will be available for action in the EIU game. Senior guard Matt Morris has not played this season because of mononucleosis.

AT THE SHOW ME CENTER: Southeast is 6-2 at the Show Me Center this season and is 161-47 (.772) since the Show Me Center opened in 1987. Last season, Southeast again led the OVC in attendance with 5,066 fans per game. After six games this season, Southeast averages 5,037 fans per game.

SCHUBERTH MOVING UP ON BEST DRESSED LIST: Southeast assistant coach Tom Schuberth is currently ranked fourth nationally on the latest Fashion Power Index for Assistant Coaches compiled by collegeinsider.com. Schuberth was seventh and has moved up to the fourth position behind Garland Mance of Kent State, Steve Sauers of Marist and Mike Young of Wofford. The Schuberth wardrobe includes 73 suits (36 Giorgio Armani suits), 70 pair of shoes, 40 dress slacks, 18 sport coats, and over 100 dress shirts.

SID STREAK: Southeast sports information director Ron Hines has worked a nation leading 588 consecutive basketball games. Hines has not missed an Indian basketball game since 1980.

NEXT: Following Saturday night's game at Eastern Illinois, Southeast will continue on the road for a non-conference Monday night game at Morris Brown College in Atlanta. Morris Brown is 4-14 entering a game Saturday night at Savannah State.