Jan. 20, 2006

Southeast Missouri State At Tennessee Tech

Saturday, Jan. 21, 2006, 7:30 p.m.

Eblen Center, Cookeville, Tenn.

The Teams: Southeast Missouri is 6-10 overall and 3-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks have wins over Truman State, South Dakota State, Tennessee State, Central Methodist, Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois and losses to IPFW, Nebraska, Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee Tech, Samford, Jacksonville State, nationally ranked Illinois, Murray State, Austin Peay and Tennessee State.

Tennessee Tech is 13-5 overall and 8-2 in the OVC. The Golden Eagles are in first place in the OVC.

The Coach: Gary Garner has an overall record of 372-287 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 125-122 in his ninth season at Southeast.

The Series: Tennessee Tech leads the Redhawks 19-11.

Earlier Game: The Redhawks lost to Tennessee Tech 79-65 at the Show Me Center on Dec. 10.

REDHAWKS NOTES

Burtin Sidelined: Junior guard Eric Burtin suffered a broken leg in Thursday night's loss to Tennessee State. He will be lost for the remainder of the season.

Burtin played in all 16 games this season, starting six. He averaged 5.8 points and 2.8 rebounds per game.

Burtin joins fellow junior college transfer David Johnson on the sideline. Johnson had hernia surgery after playing in only three games for the Redhawks. He averaged 9.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per game.

Booker Leads OVC Scorers: Senior Roy Booker leads the Redhawks in scoring with 21.9 points per game, tops in the OVC. He had a career high 33 points in Saturday night's loss to Austin Peay and came back with 27 on Thursday night at Tennessee Stae.

Booker was the Jan. 9 OVC Newcomer of the Week after averaging over 20 points per game in three conference games last week. He was also honored as the OVC Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 2 after averaging 24.5 points per game over the prior three games.

Booker ranks third in the OVC in 3-point field goals per game with 2.69, ranks seventh in 3-point field goal percentage at .350 and ranks seventh in free throw percentage at .813.

The Montana transfer had 27 points in the win over Tennessee State He had 26 points at Illinois and at Eastern Illinois.

Booker was named the OVC Player of the Week after scoring 60 points in three games the week of 11-21. He had is first career double-double at Nebraska with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

In the first game of career at Southeast Missouri State, Booker came up with the game winner when he hit a 3-pointer with two seconds remaining to give the Redhawks a 59-56 win over Truman State.

Booker Graduates: Roy Booker became a Southeast graduate on Dec. 17 when he graduated with a bachelor's degree in University Studies. He will continue to play while taking graduate courses.

Willoughby Hot and Cold: Junior Terrick Willoughby has had a roller coaster season. After three straight hot shooting games, Willoughby was 0-7 vs. Austin Peay. He was 4-9 from the field and 3-6 from three in the OVC win over Eastern Kentucky, was 6-9 from the field and 3-4 from three in the win at Eastern Illinois and was 5-8 from the field and 1-3 from three at Murray State.

In the three games prior to Austin Peay, Willoughby was 15-26 (.577) from the field and 7-13 (.538) from three.

Against Tennessee State on Thursday night, Willoughby 2-7 from the field and 2-6 from three. For the season he is shooting .383 from the field and .368 from three.

Thornton Leads Rebounders: Junior college transfer Andrais Thornton leads the Redhawks in rebounding with 7.2 rebounds per game, fourth best in the OVC. In OVC games only, Thornton leads the league in rebounding.

Paradoski Assists: Sophomore point guard Paul Paradoski leads the team in assists with 4.00 which ranks him sixth in the OVC. He is fifth in the league in assist/turnover ratio with 1.73. He led the OVC in assist/turnover ratio last season.

Paradoski is averaging 5.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Hitting The Boards: Southeast Missouri ranks second in the OVC in rebounding margin with a plus 2.0. Andrais Thornton leads the way for the Redhawks with 7.2 caroms per game while Ketshner Guerrier averages 4.8 per game and Waylon Francis 4.3.

Big Men Sink Free Throws: Ketshner Guerrier has made his last 11 free throws in a row to raise his seasonal stats to 18-26 for .692. Waylon Francis has made 9-10 free throws this season for .900. He has made six straight.

Ritter Walks On: Jared Ritter, grandson of the all-time leading scorer at Southeast, Carl Ritter, has joined the Southeast team as a walk-on. Ritter, a 5-11 junior, played one year of college basketball at Hannibal La Grange and spent last season at Three Rivers Community College where he did not play basketball.

Carl Ritter, a member of the Southeast Athletic Hall of Fame, was an All-American in 1961 and 1963. He had 1,916 career points.

Chappell Leaves Team: Junior John Chappell has left the Southeast team and plans to transfer to another school. He played in no games.

Two Transfers Will Sit Out: Two transfers will sit out the 2005-2006 season under NCAA transfer rules. The transfers are 6-9 Michael Rembert from Bradley and 6-6 Brandon Foust from Oklahoma.

Two Early Signings: Southeast signed two players during the early signing period. JaJuan Maxwell, 6-6, 205, is from Raytown High School in Raytown, Mo. He averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds per game as a junior and was all-conference and all-metro in the Kansas City area.

Roderick Pearson, 6-2, 175, is from Raytown South High School in Raytown. He averaged 12 points, six assists and three steals per game as a junior and was recently voted the MVP of the prestigious William Jewell High School Tournament in Liberty, Mo.

Southeast On Radio: All Southeast games will be broadcast on the Southeast Sports Network anchored by K-103 Radio in Cape Girardeau. Erik Sean will be in his fifth season as play-by-play announcer with Todd Bonacki adding commentary for home games while Sports Information Director Ron Hines will do color on the road broadcasts. All the games can be heard worldwide on the internet at www.k103fm.com.

Television: The Redhawks vs. Murray State game at the Show Me Center on Jan. 28, 3 p.m., will be televised live by ESPN 2. Bucky Waters and Jerry Punch will be the announcers. Southeast had two appearances on ESPNU, the Illinois game on Dec. 28 and the Eastern Kentucky game on Jan. 2.

Gary Garner TV Show: Southeast Basketball with Gary Garner is seen each Thursday at 6:30 p.m. on UPN-The Beat. Todd Richards, sports director of UPN and KFVS-TV, is host for the 30-minute show.

SID Streak: Southeast sports information director has worked 743 consecutive games, the longest streak in NCAA Division I. Hines hasn't missed a game since 1980.

Next For The Redhawks: The Redhawks return to the Show Me Center on Thursday, Jan. 26 vs. Morehead State. It will be the first birthday party for Southeast mascot, Rowdy.