NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee State's recent surge continued here Thursday night, and the Tigers ended Southeast Missouri State University's surge in the process.

The Tigers, who were mired in the Ohio Valley Conference's cellar until less than a week ago, picked up their third straight victory as they upended the Indians 56-52 in front of 2,133 fans at the Gentry Complex.

And all three wins during TSU's current streak have come against some of the OVC's best squads. The Tigers beat Murray State Tuesday and Austin Peay Saturday.

TSU, which had been embarrassed by Southeast 79-46 in Cape Girardeau on Jan. 6, improved to 5-15 overall and 4-6 in OVC play. The Tigers are in eighth place in the 10-team league.

Southeast, which had won five straight games, fell to 16-4 overall and 9-2 in the OVC. The Indians are still in first place in the league, but they now lead Murray State by just one game on the loss side.

"We didn't deserve to win tonight," said Southeast coach Gary Garner. "I thought our effort was all right, but I was really disappointed in our offense. We got completely out of sync and tried to do things too quick.

"We just weren't very good offensively. It seemed like everything was a struggle for us. And we didn't shoot the ball well. I thought we got plenty of good looks, but we just shot very poorly."

The Indians hit just 33 percent of their shots from the field, going 21 for 64.

TSU also struggled with its shooting, hitting 35 percent on 16 of 46. But the Tigers had a huge advantage from the free-throw line, hitting 19 of 26 foul shots compared to five of nine for the Indians.

"We put them on the line way too much," Garner said.

One of the reasons the Tigers have improved so much recently is that three key players became eligible for the second semester. All three did not play during the earlier game at the Show Me Center.

Carl Sykes, one of those players who recently became eligible, scored 14 points.

"Tennessee State is a lot better team now, no question about it," said Garner. "Their new players give them depth, and they're very good players."

Kevin Samuel paced the Tigers with 20 points while Jamie Roberts added 13.

"At the beginning of the season, we just weren't very good," said Samuel. "But we showed tonight that we can beat even great teams like SEMO with our new players and our new attitude."

Said TSU coach Frankie Allen, "It's a great win. We feel like we played well tonight and this gives us a lot of confidence."

Southeast was led by Roderick Johnson with 12 points and Mike Branson with 10.

The Indians scored the game's first six points as TSU was held off the board for nearly four minutes.

Southeast led 15-9 before TSU forged a 15-15 tie. The Indians went back ahead 19-15 before the Tigers grabbed their first lead of the night at 20-19.

The Indians surged ahead again 25-20 and they later led 27-24, but TSU scored the final eight points of the half to carry a 32-27 lead into the break.

The Indians were hampered in the opening half by foul problems. Branson, Southeast's leading scorer, picked up two early fouls and played just eight first-half minutes. Johnson also got two fouls and was limited to 12 first-half minutes.

Roberts hit two free throws early in the second half as TSU opened up the game's biggest lead at 37-29.

Southeast then scored nine straight points, with Fred Abraham's driving shot putting the Indians ahead 38-37 with just under 13 minutes to play.

TSU regained the lead just seconds later when a Sykes basket made it 39-38. The Tigers would not trail again, although Southeast managed to forge two more ties.

With 6:54 remaining, Michael Stokes hit one of two free throws for a 41-41 deadlock. Then, with 6:30 left, Branson drilled a 3-pointer that made it 44-44.

The Indians then had a golden opportunity to take the lead, but Nyah Jones after a nice drive to the basket missed a wide-open shot from just a few feet away.

Samuel answered with a 17-foot jumper at the 5:46 mark that put the Tigers up for good, 46-44.

TSU got baskets from Ralph Martin and Roberts to make it 50-44 and put the Indians in a deep hole with just over four minutes to play.

Antonio Short's layup made it 50-46 and Branson hit one of two free throws with 2:10 left as the Indians pulled to within 50-47.

Samuel then hit one of the shots of the game when he buried a long 3-pointer at the 1:40 mark to put TSU up 53-47.

Abraham scored with 1:16 left to make it 53-49. Abraham made one of two foul shots with 18 seconds remaining to cut TSU's lead to 53-50.

Aaron Brochman, another of TSU's recently-eligible players, hit one of two free throws with 16 seconds left to make it 54-50.

Jones dunked with three seconds remaining as the Indians climbed to within 54-52. But Roberts sealed the victory by hitting two free throws with two seconds left.

"We missed some pretty easy shots toward the end that really could have made a difference," said Garner. "But like I said, the bottom line is that we didn't deserve to win the game."

The Indians will remain on the road to take on Austin Peay Saturday night in Clarksville, Tenn.