Southeast Missouri at Murray State
Regional Special Events Center, Murray, Ky.
7:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001

Southeast Missouri (13-10, 4-7 OVC)

 Probable Starters                     Ppg.     Rpg.
F 23  Drew DeMond, 6-7, So.            4.4      3.8
F 15  Emmanuel McCuthison, 6-4, Sr.   12.6      5.3
C 44  Daniel Weaver, 6-8, So.          4.2      2.2
G 12  Michael Stokes, 6-0, Sr.        14.9      4.5
G 05  Antonio Short, 6-2, Sr.         11.1      3.6


Off the Bench
  03  Amory Sanders, 6-1, Sr.          9.1      2.2
  10  Joel Shelton, 5-9, Fr.           2.0      0.6
  20  Tim Scheer, 6-7, So.             6.6      3.1
  24  Damarcus Hence, 6-6, Fr.         1.8      1.0
  30  Monte Gordon, 6-5, Jr.           3.2      2.7
  50  Terry Rogers, 6-10, Jr.          5.3      4.0
  54  Nyah Jones, 6-11, Sr.            4.1      2.5

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri State is 13-10 overall and 4-7 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Indians are tied for seventh place in the OVC. Southeast has OVC wins over Tennessee State, Tennessee-Martin, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky with losses to Tennessee Tech (2), Austin Peay (2), Murray State, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State. In non-conference action Southeast has wins over Truman State, Missouri-Rolla, Robert Morris, Cleveland State, Southern Illinois, Southwest Missouri, Campbell, Jackson State and Morris Brown with losses to Toledo, Mississippi Valley State, and Houston. Murray State is 11-10 overall and 6-4 in the OVC. The Racers are currently in fourth place.

COACHES: Gary Garner is 71-40 in his fourth season at Southeast and is 318-203 in his 18th year as a collegiate head coach. He won a Division II national championship in 1995-96 when he guided Fort Hays State to a 34-0 record. 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 2-7 vs. Murray State. Tevester Anderson is 65-23 in his third season at Murray State. He is 5-2 vs. Southeast.

THE SERIES: Murray State leads the series 29-13.

EARLIER MEETING: Murray State beat the Indians 60-58 at the Show Me Center on Jan. 11. Antonio Short led Southeast with 17 points while Michael Stokes added 13. Isaac Spencer led Murray with 20 points and nine rebounds. A box from that game is attached.

SOUTHEAST DEFENSE TOPS OVC: Southeast leads the OVC in field goal percentage defense, 3-point field goal percentage defense and scoring defense. The Indians allow opponents to shoot just .416 from the field and .317 from three while allowing just 68.7 points per game.

SANDERS SECOND NATIONALLY IN 3-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE: Senior guard Amory Sanders leads the OVC and ranks second in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage. He is 49-90 for .544. Sanders was 5-5 vs. Tennessee State, 5-7 vs. Morris Brown and 7-10 from three against Robert Morris.

INDIANS NATIONALLY RANKED IN 3-POINT FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE: As a team, Southeast ranks second in the OVC and 18th nationally in 3-point field goal percentage at .397.

THREE STRAIGHT LOSSES: For only the second time in Gary Garner's four seasons at Southeast, the Indians have suffered three straight losses. The other 3-game losing streak was when the Indians lost to Tennessee-Martin, Murray State and Eastern Illinois in 1998. No Garner team at Southeast has suffered four straight losses. The four OVC losses, three by two points and one by five points, at the Show Me Center are the most since the Indians went 3-5 during the 1995-96 season.

FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE IS A KEY: Southeast is 11-2 this season when shooting 44% or better from the field.

STOKES LEADS IN FIVE CATEGORIES: Senior guard Michael Stokes leads the team in scoring, assists, steals, free throw percentage and minutes played. He is second in rebounding.

Stokes. Who had a career high 27 points against Tennessee State, averages 14.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. He is shooting .441 from the field, .349 from three and .809 from the line while playing 35.3 minutes per game. Stokes has two double-doubles this season with 21 points and 10 rebounds vs. Jackson State and 15 points and 10 assists at Tennessee Tech. In OVC statistics, Stokes ranks 10th in scoring, eighth in free throw percentage and third in assists and assist/turnover ratio. He 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. Stokes was the OVC Player of the Week on Dec. 18.

McCUTHISON LEADS TEAM ON BOARDS: Senior Emmanuel McCuthison is the Southeast leader in rebounds and is second in scoring. He is averaging 12.6 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 22 games played this season, DeMond is second in the OVC with 39 blocks. DeMond had a career high in scoring and rebounding against Tennessee State on Saturday night when he scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds.

DEMOND FROM THE LINE: After a slow start at the free throw line, DeMond has connected on his last 20 straight free throws. DeMond hasn't missed at the line since going 0-2 vs. Murray State on Jan. 11. For the season, he is 35-50 for .700.

SCHEER COMING ON: Sophomore Tim Scheer is averaging nine points and 4.3 rebounds per game in OVC games. In the league, he is shooting .554 from the field, .417 from the line and .727 from the line while playing an aveage of 19.4 minutes per game. Scheer came off the bench to score a career high 17 points in the win over Tennessee-Martin. He had a career high nine rebounds at Eastern Kentucky.

SHORT IS STEADY: Senior guard Antonio Short continues to be a steadying force both offensively and defensively. He averages 11.1 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while playing an average of 30.8 minutes per game. He is shooting .435 from the field, .372 from three and .676 from the line. In the two-point home loss to Murray State, 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.

WEAVER STARTS AT POST: Daniel Weaver has started the last four games at the post and in the three games has averaged 7.8 points and 3.5 rebounds per game while hitting 11-22 (.500) field goals and 9-11 (,818) free throws. For the season, Weaver averages 4.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game.

INJURIES: Amory Sanders continues to be bothered by a deep stone bruise on his foot. Southeast will seek a medical redshirt for senior guard Matt Morris who has not played this season because of mononucleosis.

AT THE SHOW ME CENTER: Southeast is 6-4 at the Show Me Center this season and is 161-49 (.766) since the Show Me Center opened in 1987. Last season, Southeast again led the OVC in attendance with 5,066 fans per game. After 10 home games this season, Southeast averages a league high 5,123 fans per game.

SCHUBERTH DROPS TO SECOND ON BEST DRESSED LIST: Southeast assistant coach Tom Schuberth is currently ranked second nationally on the latest Fashion Power Index for Assistant Coaches compiled by collegeinsider.com. Schuberth, who was ranked first, fell behind Marist assistant Steve Sauers in the latest ranking. 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 595 consecutive basketball games. Hines has not missed an Indian basketball game since 1980.

NEXT: Southesat plays at Tennessee-Martin Saturday in a 6 p.m. game. The next Southeast home game will be Feb. 14 vs. Morris Brown with a 7 p.m. tipoff.