NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeast Missouri State University added to Tennessee State's misery Saturday night as the Indians finished the regular season on a positive note.

The Indians snapped a seven-game Ohio Valley Conference losing streak and handed Tennessee State its 21st consecutive loss by holding off the Tigers 89-82 at the Gentry Center.

Southeast improved to 11-18 overall and 5-11 in OVC play as the Indians finished tied with Eastern Kentucky for seventh place in the nine-team league. Southeast won the tie-breaker and will be the No. 7 seed for the OVC Tournament, which begins Tuesday night at No. 2 seed Morehead State. Morehead and Austin Peay tied for the regular-season title, but the Govs won the tie-breaker for the top seed.

TSU, which did not qualify for the eight-team conference tournament, ends the season 2-25 and 0-16.

"It feels good to win again," said sophomore guard Brett Hale, who scored a career-high 31 points. "And now we can take a little momentum into the tournament."

Southeast's 11 wins nearly doubles its total from last season when the Indians went 6-22.

If the Indians could have played TSU a few more times this season, they almost certainly would have added to their victory total, although the Tigers made Southeast sweat this time after losing the earlier meeting by 20 points.

Southeast fell behind 4-0 in the opening moments, then scored nine straight points and had control before having to hold off a late TSU charge.

"They've been struggling, and we knew it was important to get off to a good start," sophomore guard Derek Winans said. "We didn't want them to get any confidence going."

Leading 12-8, the Indians scored seven straight points, a Winans 3-pointer putting them up 19-8 with 8:38 remaining in the first half.

The Indians led 41-18 at halftime and by 29 points early in the second half. TSU pulled to within 81-77 with 51 seconds left, but the Indians hit all eight of their free throws in the final 43 seconds to close out the victory.

"We stressed how important it was to get on them early and not let them hang around and gain confidence," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "We got the big lead and we just let up, that's all there is to it."

Hale hit nine of 17 field-goal attempts, including four of seven 3-pointers, added nine of 10 from the free-throw line. His previous career high was 29 points.

"I didn't realize I had scored that many," Hale said. "But the main thing is we got the win."

Winans scored 17 points, while junior center Brandon Griffin and junior forward Damarcus Hence both had 16 points. Griffin, who made seven of 12 shots, also pulled down 13 rebounds. He needs six more rebounds to break Bud Eley's single-season school record.

Sophomore point guard Kevin Roberts had six assists and five steals.

TSU got 24 points from Roshaun Bowens. He was one of five Tigers to reach double figures.

Now the Indians hope to spring an upset in the first round of the OVC Tournament. Although they will be heavy underdogs, they say they look forward to the challenge.

"I know nobody is going to expect us to have a chance Tuesday night, but we're going to go to Morehead thinking we can win," Winans said. "The conference tournament is like a new season, and everybody starts out even."

mmishow@semissourian.com

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