Southeast Basketball Looks To Secure Conference Tourney Bid This Week :: Team will take on UT-Martin and Murray State

Feb. 11, 2002

Game Information

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 Tennessee-Martin at Southeast Missouri Show Me Center, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 16, 2002 Murray State at Southeast Missouri Show Me Center, 7:30 p.m.

Probable Starters

Southeast Missouri (4-19, 2-10 OVC) Ppg Rpg F 20 Tim Scheer, 6-7, Jr. 14.0 5.1 F 24 Damarcus Hence, 6-6, So. 6.7 1.4 C 30 Monte Gordon, 6-5, Sr. 7.6 3.1 Or 23 Drew DeMond, 6-7, Jr. 10.7 5.8 G 33 Derek Winans, 6-2, Fr. 14.4 4.7 G 03 Brett Hale, 6-3, Fr. 8.5 3.1

Off the Bench 11 Demetrius King, 6-4, Jr. 6.2 2.4 12 Kenny Johnson, 5-9, Jr. 6.8 2.4 14 Kevin Roberts, 6-3, Fr. 1.2 0.8 22 Adam Crader, 6-11, Fr. 1.1 0.9 44 Daniel Weaver, 6-8, Jr. 3.2 2.4

Tennessee-Martin (13-11, 5-7 OVC) F 30 Joey Walker, 6-6, Jr. 8.4 4.2 F 40 Brian Foster, 6-5, Sr. 14.7 6.7 C 44 Jeremy Sargent, 6-8, Sr. 13.0 8.3 G 02 Jermi Hampton, 5-9, Sr. 9.0 3.1 G 05 Jair Peralta, 5-9, Sr. 12.4 2.5

Murray State (13-11, 7-5 OVC) F 34 Antoine Whelchel, 6-5, Jr 12.1 7.2 F 10 Cuthburt Victor, 6-5, So. 10.2 7.3 C 42 James Singleton, 6-8, Jr. 11.7 9.7 G 24 Justin Burdine, 6-1, Sr. 20.3 2.9 G 01 Kevin Paschal, 5-11, Sr. 7.7 2.0

OVC Tournament Seeds at Stake: Southeast Missouri is 4-19 overall and 2-10 in the OVC and trails eighth place Eastern Kentucky by one game in a battle the eighth and final spot in the OVC post-season tournament. Tennessee-Martin is 13-11 overall and 5-7 and in a tie for sixth place in the OVC. Prior to a Thursday night game at Eastern Illinois Murray State is 13-11 overall and 7-5 and in a tie for third place in the OVC.

The Series: Southeast leads the Tennessee-Martin series 32-15. Murray State leads the series 32-12.

Earlier Games: Tennessee-Martin beat the Indians 89-73 on Jan. 17 at Martin. Joey Walker led UTM with 24 points while Derek Winans led Southeast with 17 points. Murray State beat the Indians 85-72 on Jan. 19 at Murray. Winans and Tim Scheer led Southeast with 14 points each while Justine Burdine had 33 points for the Racers.

The Coaches: Gary Garner is 80-60 in his fifth season at Southeast and is 327-223 in his 19th year as a collegiate head coach. Garner is 7-3 vs. Tennessee-Martin and 2-9 vs. Murray State. Bret Campbell is 33-48 in his third season at UTM. He is 2-4 vs. Southeast Missouri. Tevester Anderson is 80-38 in his fourth season at Murray State. He is 7-2 vs. Southeast Missouri.

**Southeast Basketball Notes**

Loss Streak Ends: The Indians ended an eight game losing streak with an 81-74 road win at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night. Drew DeMond led Southeast with 19 points while Tim Schher added 17 and Brett Hale 15. It was the first road win of the year for the Indians.

Brett Hale is OVC Rookie of the Week: For The second straight week, Southeast freshman Brett Hale has been selected as the OVC Rookie of the Week. Hale averaged 15.5 points per game in road games at Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky. He shot .571 from the field, .556 from three and was a perfect 2-2 from the line. He has been Rookie of the Week three times.

OVC Tournament: Southeast needs at least one win in the final four games to qualify for the OVC post-season tournament as the number eight seed. Southeast currently trails Eastern Kentucky by one game but holds two wins over EKU this season to win the tie breaker should the teams tie for the final tournament spot. The remaining games for the two teams follow.

EKU Southeast

2-11 - EKU @ Tenn. St. 2-14 - UTM @ SE 2-16 - Morehead @ EKU 2-16 - Murray @ SE 2-21 - EKU @ Murray 2-19 - EIU @ SE 2-23 - EKU @ UTM 2-23 - SE @ AP

Southeast 9th Nationally in FT%: The Indians are shooting .763 from the free throw line to rank 9th nationally in the latest NCAA Division I rankings. The Indians are second in the OVC behind Morehead State, the number one free throw shooting team in the nation.

Hale is Hot: Freshman guard Brett Hale has been lighting it up from the field. In the last five games, Hale is 24-45 from the field for .533 and is 12-21 from three for .571. He was also 2-2 from the line. His hot shooting has raised his seasonal percentages to .435 from the field, .368 from three and .921 from the lline. He averages 8.8 points per game. Hale has hit 35-38 free throws for a team leading .921 from the line. He is short of qualifying for the OVC rankings in free throws (2.0 made per game minimum) and has not shot a free throw in the last five games. The .921 would lead the OVC.

DeMond Is Back: Junior center Drew DeMond, who missed three games with a knee and ankle sprain, has bounced back with big games off the bench at Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky. In the two road games, DeMond was 8-13 (.615) from the field and 10-12 (.833) from the line. He averaged 13 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in the two games. For the season, DeMond averages 10.7 points and a team-high 5.8 rebounds per game.

Winans Hits The Boards: Derek Winans, who leads the Indians in scoring (14.4 ppg), 3-pointers (49), steals (31), minutes played (34.4 pg) and is second in assists (63), third in free throw percentage (.803) and rebounding (4.7 pg), had a career high 12 rebounds in Saturday's win over Eastern Kentucky. With 317 points scored, he is on course to become the top freshman scorer at Southeast since William "Bud" Eley scored 465 points during the 1995-96 season. Winans was honored as the OVC Rookie of the Week on Nov. 26, Dec. 3, Jan. 14 and Jan. 21.

Perfect Grades: Winans and Hale both had perfect 4.0 grade point averages for the fall semester. Winans also has a 4.0 cumulative grade point average for his three semesters at Southeast. Men's basketball had a 2.912 GPA in the fall and has a cumulative 2.743.

Scheer Is Consistent: Junior Tim Scheer has scored in double figures in 16 of 23 games this season. He is second on the team in scoring, rebounding and 3-point percentage. Scheer averages 14.0 points and 5.1 rebounds per game with 31-87 for .356 from three. Scheer, who had double-doubles against Western Illinois and Lincoln, had a career high 23 points against North Alabama and Tennessee State.

DeMond Has 107 Blocks: Drew DeMond is the active OVC career leader in blocked shots with 107. He had 26 blocks as a freshman, 48 as a sophomore and 33 this season. He had a season-high five blocks vs. Vanderbilt. DeMond leads the Indians in rebounding with 5.8 per game and is fourth in the OVC in blocked shots with 1.9 per game.

Johnson Assists: Kenny Johnson, who became eligible at the end of the first semester, has a team-high 69 assists in just 17 games played for an average of 4.1 per game. Johnson, who averages 6.8 points per game, had a career high eight assists vs. Lincoln.

Hence Back In Starting Lineup: Sophomore Damarcus Hence returned to the starting lineup for the Murray State game and produced 12 points, three rebounds two assists and two blocks. In the last five games, For the season, Hence averages 6.7 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.

Gordon Returns To Action: Senior Monte Gordon, who was academically ineligible the first semester, saw his first action of the season in the Lincoln game and has played in all but one game since. He averages 7.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game while shooting .638 from the field. Gordon got his first start at Tennessee Tech and responded with 15 points, five rebounds and two steals.

OVC Honors: 11-26 - Derek Winans, Rookie of the Week 12-3 - Derek Winans, Rookie of the Week 12-10 -- Brett Hale, Rookie of the Week 1-14 - Derek Winans, Rookie of the Week 1-21 - Derek Winans, Rookie of the Week 2-4 - Brett Hale, Rookie of the Week 2-11 - Brett Hale, Rookie of the Week

At The Show Me Center: Southeast is 168-57 (.748) in games played at the Show Me Center which opened in 1987. Southeast is second in the OVC in attendance with an average of 4,072 per game.

Winning Tradition: Only 42 of the nation's 311 Division I basketball teams won more games over the last three seasons than Southeast Missouri. The Indians had 63 wins over the last three years.

It Doesn't Happen Often: The last time Southeast lost 19 games in a season was the 19975-76 team that finished 5-21. The last time a Gary Garner coached team lost 19 games was in 1983-84 when his Drake team finished 8-20.

SID Streak: Ron Hines, Southeast sports information director has worked 627 consecutive basketball games at Southeast, the longest streak in Division I basketball. He has not missed a game since 1980.

Next Game: Following the home games with Tennessee-Martin and Murray State, Southeast will host Eastern Illinois on Tuesday, Feb. 19, in a game that will be televised on FOX Sports Net South. The Indians close the regular season at Austin Peay on Saturday, Feb. 23.

OVC Standings (Through Games of Feb. 9)

Tennessee Tech 10-1 17-5 Morehead State 7-4 13-9 Austin Peay 7-5 12-14 Murray State 7-5 13-11 Eastern Illinois 6-5 14-11 Tennessee State 5-7 9-14 Tennessee-Martin 5-7 13-11 Eastern Kentucky 3-9 7-16 Southeast Missouri 2-10 4-19

GAMES THIS WEEK

Monday, Feb. 11, 2002 Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee State, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 Morehead State at Tennessee Tech, 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 14, 2002 Tennessee-Martin at Southeast Missouri, 7:30 Murray State at Eastern Illinois, 7:10 p.m. Austin Peay at Tennessee State, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 16, 2002 Murray State at Southeast Missouri, 7:30 Tennessee-Martin at Eastern Illinois, 7:10 p.m. Morehead State at Eastern Kentucky, 6:30 p.m. Austin Peay at Tennessee Tech, 1 p.m.