Indians whistle their way past TSU

Southeast Missouri State University junior guard Derek Winans was rather diplomatic when asked about the officiating during Thursday night's Ohio Valley Conference basketball game at the Show Me Center.

"Things started off a little ugly. We got ourselves in foul trouble early," Winans said. "But we wanted it and pulled it out at the end."

That pretty well summed up the foul-plagued contest that ended with the Indians' 81-75 victory over Tennessee State in front of 3,656 fans.

The Indians won their second straight game to improve to 9-6 overall and 2-2 in OVC play. TSU fell to 3-11 and 2-1.

Whistles stared blowing from the opening tipoff and rarely let up as 53 fouls were called -- many of them rather dubious on both ends -- and 63 free throws were shot.

Southeast was whistled for 29 fouls to 26 for TSU and two Indian starters -- Dainmon Gonner and Damarcus Hence -- wound up fouling out. A host of other key players on both sides were in constant foul trouble. But the Indians got the better of the free-throw shooting, making 28 of 35 compared to 18 of 28 for the Tigers.

"Fouls is why we played so bad," said Southeast coach Gary Garner, also diplomatically as he apparently did not want to risk a conference reprimand by commenting on the officiating. "But it's a good win. We had to have a lot of players step up."

With so many fouls being called throughout the contest, it was hard for either squad to get into a consistent flow. But forget about style points -- the Indians were thrilled to have survived against the much improved Tigers, who did not win an OVC game last season.

"They have a really talented team," Winans said. "They fought us hard, but we just hit some bit shots toward the end."

As usual, Winans played a major role in the victory. He shook off first-half foul trouble that limited him to just six minutes by scoring 19 of his team-high 22 points in the second half. Winans hit six of nine shots, including three of five 3-pointers. He was Southeast's Copi-Rite player of the game.

"Derek had another unbelievable game," Garner said. "He's all guts."

Junior point guard Mike Nelke continued his impressive recent play with 16 points, eight assists and no turnovers in 36 minutes. Nelke, who hit four of six 3-pointers, has 23 assists and just one turnover in Southeast's four OVC games.

"We needed this win," Nelke said. "We got into foul trouble, but a lot of players stepped up and had good games."

Senior center Brandon Griffin had 12 points and nine rebounds while Hence, a senior forward, scored eight of his 12 points in the second half.

Junior forward Reggie Golson continued to provide solid offense off the bench as he hit three of four shots and scored seven points. The Indians also got a boost from little-used junior center Adam Crader, who provided five big second-half points when Griffin was in foul trouble.

"Without Adam, we may have lost this game," Garner said.

Junior forward Rashaun Bowens poured in 33 points for the Tigers. Senior guard Brandon Lockridge came off the bench to score 16 points.

But TSU freshman guard Bruce Price, the Tigers' leading scorer at nearly 18 points per game, was held to just seven points on 1-for-9 shooting as he was hounded by Southeast freshman guard Terrick Willoughby and Winans much of the night.

"Tennessee State is so improved this year," Garner said. "We knew it was going to be a battle."

Southeast led 34-31 at halftime and opened up a 43-35 lead early in the second half, but TSU would prove tough until the very end.

The Tigers surged ahead 56-55 midway through the final period for their first lead since early in the game. They also were ahead 58-57, but Crader made two free throws with 9:21 remaining as Southeast regained a 59-58 advantage that it would not relinquish.

But things would be far from easy. With 8:33 remaining, Gonner -- averaging nearly 14 points per game -- fouled out on a controversial rebound foul that had Garner and the Show Me Center fans howling. Gonner scored just two points as he played only 19 minutes.

"We had to stay strong," Nelke said.

Southeast led just 66-63 with under six minutes left when the Indians used an 11-0 run to open some breathing room at 77-63. TSU got within five points twice but Nelke made two free throws and Winans one foul shot in the final minute to close things out.

The Indians shot 72.2 percent in the second half to finish at 50 percent. They made nine of 19 3-pointers. TSU shot 46.2 percent and hit nine of 18 3-pointers.

Southeast returns to action Thursday at Tennessee Tech.