Southeast Missouri Basketball Notes

March 3, 2003

Ohio Valley Conference Tournament Southeast Missouri at Morehead State Tuesday, March 4, 6:00 p.m. (CST) Johnson Arena, Morehead, Ky.

Probable Starters Southeast Missouri (11-18, 5-11 OVC) Ppg Rpg. F 03 Brett Hale, 6-3, So. 13.3 2.6 F 24 Damarcus Hence, 6-6, Jr. 10.0 4.0 C 22 Brandon Griffin, 6-8, Jr. 12.2 10.5 G 33 Derek Winans, 6-2, So. 15.3 3.0 G 14 Kevin Roberts, 6-2, So 1.6 2.3

Off the Bench 11 Demetrius King, 6-4, Sr. 5.0 2.4 12 John Boggio, 6-1, Fr. 1.4 0.6 30 Larry Graves, 6-2, Sr. 0.0 0.0 44 Adam Crader, 6-11, So. 1.8 1.7 54 Cole Grapperhaus, 6-7, Fr. 1.5 1.1

THE TEAMS: Southeast Missouri enters the OVC tournament with a record of 11-18 overall and 5-11 in the OVC after closing the regular season with an 89-82 road win over Tennessee State. The Indians have wins over Central Methodist, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Oakland City, Missouri-Kansas City, Southwest Missouri, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Tennessee State (2), Tennessee Tech and Western Illinois. The losses have been to Arkansas State, Indiana State, Tulane, Southern Illinois, Arkansas-Little Rock, Creighton, Eastern Illinois (2), Morehead State (2), Tennessee-Martin (2), Tennessee Tech (2), Western Illinois, Austin Peay (2) and Eastern Kentucky. Morehead State, OVC co-champion, is the number two tournament seed with an overall record of 19-8 and and OVC mark of 13-3.

THE COACHES: Gary Garner is 93-81 in his sixth season at Southeast and is 340-245 in his 20th season as a collegiate head coach. He is 8-4 vs. Morehead State and 5-4 in OVC tournament games. Kyle Macy is 74-91 in his seventh season at Morehead State. He is 5-9 vs. Southeast Missouri.

THE SERIES: Southeast Missouri leads 13-11.

EARLIER GAMES: Morehead State won both regular season games, winning 77-63 at Morehead and 79-69 at the Show Me Center.

SOUTHEAST NOTES

Southeast in the OVC Tournament: Southeast Missouri is 5-5 in the OVC Tournament since becoming eligible for tournament play in 1997. The Indians won the tournament in 2000 after a second place finish in 1999. Southeast has dropped opening round games the last two seasons.

Griffin Closes in On Rebound Record: Junior college transfer Brandon Griffin, who has been selected as the OVC Newcomer of the Week four times, needs six more rebounds to become the Southeast single season rebound record holder. He already has the third highest seasonal rebound total in school history with 305 rebounds and is closing in on William "Bud" Eley's record total of 310 achieved twice. Griffin has 13 double-doubles this season and is the second leading rebounder in the OVC with an average of 10.5 boards per game which ranks him 12th nationally. He leads the OVC in offensive rebounding with 4.0 per game. Griffin is averaging a double-double with 12.2 points and 10.5 rebounds per game. Griffin was the leading rebounder in the University Hoops Classic and was named to the all-tournament team. He had 33 rebounds in the three tournament games. Against nationally ranked Creighton, Griffin had 9 points, 9 assists and 13 rebounds. He has double figure rebounding in 19 of 29 games played.

Hale Tops OVC Free Throw Shooters: Sophomore guard Brett is 64-70 from the free throw line this season for .914, tops in the OVC. The single season Southeast record for free throw percentage is .926 by Cory Johnson in 1999. In his two seasons at Southeast, Hale is 102-112 from the line for a career percentage of .911.

Winans Ranked in Five OVC Stat Categories: Derek Winans, last season's OVC Freshman of the Year, is ranked in the OVC's top 10 in five different statistical categories. In the latest OVC stats, Winans ranks fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7), 10th in scoring (15.3), eighth in assists (3.8), fifth in 3-point field goal percentage (.408) and fifth in 3-point field goals made. Winans leads the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game and is second in assists with 3.8 per game. He had a double-double vs. SMS with career high 10 assists and 17 points. Winans had a career high 33 points in the loss at Western Illinois.

Roberts Leads OVC In Assists: Sophomore point guard Kevin Roberts leads the OVC in assists with 6.3 per game. He also leads in assist/turnover ratio with 3.1. His 175 assists is the second best total in Southeast school history ranking him just behind school record holder Dwayne Rutherford who had 200 assists during the 1988-89 season. Roberts tied the school record for assists in a game with 13 against Morehead State on Feb. 6 at the Show Me Center.

Injuries Mount: Tim Scheer, the team's second leading scorer with 13.1 points per game, is out for the season with a knee injury suffered in the Murray State game on Feb. 15. Winans, the team's top scorer, is playing on a painful right foot while point guard Kevin Roberts suffered a bruised tail bone in the game at Tennessee Tech. Reserve guard John Boggio had two stitches taken in his chin after the Tech game.

Hence Bounces Back: Junior Damarcus Hence who has been slowed by injuries and illness, is back at full strength and back in the starting lineup. Hence scored a career high 25 points at UMKC. He currently averages 10.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Hence is the second leading rebounder for the Indians.

King Off the Bench: Demetrius King, continues to provide a spark off the bench. He had 17 points and five rebounds against Missouri Valley co-leader Southern Illinois and had 10 points last Thursday night at Tennessee Tech. On the season he is shooting .353 from three while averaging 5.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.

Grapperhaus Contributes: True freshman Cole Grapperhaus had a career high six points and seven rebounds in the first game against Tennessee State. He scored five key points in just three-minutes played in the win over Murray State He was 2-2 from the field and 1-1 from the line.. On the season, Grapperhaus has played in 22 games averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds per game.

Crader Sidelined With Bad Back: Sophomore Adam Crader, 6-11, who came off the bench to score a career high seven points at Morehead State, has seen action in the last three games after missing six games with back spasms. Crader averages 1.8 points and 1.7 rebounds per game.

Golson Will Seek Medical Redshirt: Junior college transfer Reggie Golson (6-7, 215) will seek a medical redshirt after appearing in only one game this season. He saw his first and only playing time in the win over Oakland City. He scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds in just 14-minutes playing time. Golon was 5-9 from the field. Golson, who has been recovering from minor knee surgery in September, has not played since that game and will seek a medical redshirt that will leave him with two years of eligibility remaining beginning next season.

Help Is On Campus: Golson is one of three players sitting out this season. His junior college teammate, Dainmon Gonner (6-6, 245), jointed the team at the semester and Mike Nelke, a point guard transfer from Valparaiso, has been with the team all season while sitting out games under NCAA transfer rules. All three players practice with the team.

OVC Honors:     
Dec. 3 - Brandon Griffin, Newcomer of Week
Dec. 10 - Brandon Griffin, Newcomer of Week
Jan. 20 - Brandon Griffin, Newcomer of Week
Feb. 10 - Brandon Griffin, Newcomer of Week

At The Show Me Center: Southeast is 177-65 (.736) in games played at the Show Me Center. This season, the Indians were 7-6 at the SMC.

SID Streak: Southeast SID Ron Hines has worked 663 consecutive basketball games at Southeast. The streak is the longest in Division I basketball. Hines has not missed a game since 1980.

NEXT GAME: A win over Morehead State would send Southeast into the OVC semi-finals on Friday night at the Gaylord Entertainment Center in Nashville, Tenn. A loss would end the 2002-2003 season.