Feb. 2, 2006

BASKETBALL GAME INFORMATION

Southeast Missouri State vs. Tennessee-Martin

Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006. 7:30 p.m.

Show Me Center, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

The Teams: Southeast Missouri is 6-14 overall and 3-11 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks, who have lost seven straight, 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 (2), Samford, Jacksonville State, nationally ranked Illinois, Murray State (2), Austin Peay (2), Tennessee State and Morehead State. Prior to a Thursday game vs. Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin was 8-12 overall and 5-9 in the OVC.

The Coach: Gary Garner has an overall record of 372-291 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 125-126 in his ninth season at Southeast.

Garner is suspended for the Tennessee-Martin game because he was ejected in the final minute of Monday night's game at Austin Peay. OVC rules require that any coach ejected from a contest must sit out the next scheduled game.

Assistant coach Ronnie Dean will direct the team during the UT-Martin game. Dean,in his second season at Southeast, is a veteran assistant coach who served as head coach at Lamar Junior College in Colorado during the 1993-94 season with a record of 14-17. One of his wins was over the Hutchinson (Kan.) team that won the junior college national title that year. Bret Campbell is 73-115 in his seventh year at UT-Martin.

The Series: Southeast leads the series 36-19.

Earlier Game: Tennessee-Martin beat the Redhawks 72-60 on Dec. 3 in Martin. Jeremy Kelly led the Skyhawks with 23 points while Terrick Willoughby led Southeast with 26.

REDHAWKS NOTES

Redhawks Go For Win 200 At The Show Me Center: Southeast is 199-79 (.723) since the Show Me Center opened in 1987. Southeast will be trying for 200 for the fourth gime. The first win was an 84-66 victory over Southern Arkansas on Nov. 27, 1987. Win number 100 came on Dec. 2, 1994 when the Redhawks beat Fairfield 82-75.

Thornton Suspended: Junior forward Andrais Thornton has been suspended from competition after having felony charges filed against him for an alleged rape in Colby, Kansas in 2003. Thornton is able to practice with the team but will not return to competition until the charges have been satisfactorily resolved.

Thornton has started all 20 games and leads the team in rebounding with 6.6 per game. He averaged 7.9 points per game.

Burtin Sidelined: Junior guard Eric Burtin suffered a broken leg in the Jan. 21 loss to Tennessee State. He will be lost for the remainder of the season.

Burtin played in 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.

Short Bench: With Thornton's suspension and Burtin and Johnson's season ending injuries, Southeast has only seven scholarship players and eight players in all available for action.

Booker 12th Nationally in Scoring: Senior Roy Booker leads the Redhawks in scoring with 22.5 points per game, tops in the OVC and 12th nationally in NCAA Division I. He had a career high 33 points in the Jan. 14 loss to Austin Peay and came back with 27 at Tennessee State and 30 points at Tennessee Tech.

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 2.76, ranks seventh in 3-point field goal percentage at .343 and ranks fifth in free throw percentage at .824.

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. Despite some off nights, Willoughby is still shooting .362 from three which ranks him eighth in the OVC. He is seventh in the OVC in 3-pointers per game with 2.10.

Paradoski Assists: Sophomore point guard Paul Paradoski leads the team in assists with 4.20 which ranks him sixth in the OVC. He is seventh in the league in assist/turnover ratio with 1.68. He led the OVC in assist/turnover ratio last season.

Paradoski is averaging 6.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.

Hitting The Boards: Southeast Missouri ranks second in the OVC in rebounding margin with a plus 0.9. Andrais Thornton leads the way for the Redhawks with 6.7 caroms per game while Ketshner Guerrier averages 4.3 per game and Waylon Francis 5.0.

Big Men Sink Free Throws: Ketshner Guerrier has made his last 14 free throws in a row to raise his seasonal stats to 21-29 for .724. Waylon Francis has made 11-13 free throws this season for .846.

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.

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 747 consecutive games, the longest streak in NCAA Division I. Hines hasn't missed a game since 1980.

Next For The Redhawks: Southeast goes on the road for OVC games at Morehead State on Thursday night and at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night. The next game at the Show Me Center will be Wednesday, Feb. 15, vs. Eastern Illinois.