Feb. 16, 2006

BASKETBALL GAME INFORMATION

Southeast Missouri State at California-Riverside

Saturday, Feb. 18, 2006, 6:05 p.m. (CST)

Student Recreation Center, Riverside, Calif.

The Teams: Southeast Missouri is 6-18 overall and 3-15 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Redhawks, who have lost 11 straight games, are coming off a 60-49 loss to Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night.

California-Riverside is 3-19 overall and 3-8 in the Big West Conference. The Highlanders, who have lost four straight, are coming off a 63-37 loss at California-Irvine on Wednesday night.

The Coaches: Gary Garner has an overall record of 372-295 in his 23rd year as a collegiate head coach with a record of 125-130 in his ninth season at Southeast.

David Spencer is 3-19 in his first season at UCR.

The Series: Southeast leads the series 1-0.

Only Meeting: Southeast beat UCR 84-83 in overtime in the semi-finals of the 1989 NCAA Division II national tournament. Many veteran courtside reporters called the game the best ever played in the NCAA II tournament.

Trailing late in the game, Southeast needed a dramatic 3-point shot from beyond the NBA line by Mike Lewis to send the game into overtime. In the OT, Earnest "Jet" Taylor banked in a jumper with seven-seconds remaining to give Southeast the 84-83 win and a berth in the Division II finals for the second time in four years.

REDHAWKS NOTES

Seek End To Losing Streak: The Redhawks hope to use the long road trip to end an 11-game losing streak. The last Redhawks win was Jan. 5 at Eastern Illinois.

Booker 13th Nationally in Scoring: Senior Roy Booker leads the Redhawks in scoring with 22.5 points per game, tops in the OVC and 13th 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.

He had is first career double-double at Nebraska with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Booker scored 26 points against nationally ranked Illinois.

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.

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 had started the first 20 games and led 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.

Based on averages per game this season, Southeast is missing 23 points and 12 rebounds per game from Thornton, Burtin and Johnson.

Willoughby Hot and Cold: Junior Terrick Willoughby has had a roller coaster season. Despite some off nights, Willoughby is still shooting .352 from three which ranks him eighth in the OVC. He is also eighth in 3-pointers per game with 2.05.

Paradoski Assists: Sophomore point guard Paul Paradoski leads the team in assists with 4.14 which ranks him sixth in the OVC. He is also sixth in the league in assist/turnover ratio with 1.71. He led the OVC in assist/turnover ratio last season.

Paradoski is averaging 6.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game.

Hitting The Boards: Southeast Missouri has dropped to fourth in the OVC in rebounding margin with a plus 0.7. 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.

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.

Bracket Buster: The Southeast at UCR game resulted from Southeast being a part of the pool of teams available for the e-Bay Bracket Buster. UC Riverside will play at Southeast next season.

Redhawks Still Seek Win 200 At The Show Me Center: Southeast is 199-81 (.716) 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.

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 Ron Hines has worked 751 consecutive games, the longest streak in NCAA Division I. Hines hasn't missed a game since 1980.

Next For The Redhawks: Southeast will close the season with home Ohio Valley Conference games against Samford on Thursday and Jacksonville State on Saturday.