Indians to face speed bumps

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Southeast Missouri State University's Indians could not have imagined a more disappointing way to begin their Ohio Valley Conference road trip to Alabama.

The Indians fell behind 10-2 in the opening minutes and never recovered, being blown out 79-64 by Jacksonville State Thursday night. That came after Southeast's previous four OVC losses had been by a total of nine points. Overall, the Indians have lost three straight games.

And now the Indians (9-9, 2-5 OVC) must try to regroup against perhaps the most difficult OVC team to prepare for -- Samford. The squads tip off at 2 p.m. today.

The Bulldogs (9-9, 4-3) utilize the Princeton offense that features constant motion, screens and cuts -- and generally uses up most if not all of the shot clock to create low-scoring affairs. It's a style that is not seen often and usually creates plenty of problems for the opposition.

"It's tough to prepare for," Southeast coach Gary Garner said. "It's really a big challenge for us."

And even more of a challenge after Thursday's drubbing at the hands of Jacksonville State.

"It's the only time this year I've been disappointed in our effort," Garner said. "We weren't ready to play and now we have to try and bounce back."

The Indians fell into a ninth-place tie in the 11-team OVC.

"I really thought we could win both games on this trip," junior guard Brett Hale said. "This makes the Samford game even bigger."

Samford, along with Jacksonville State a first-year OVC member, has already made a solid impression during its inaugural season in the conference. The Bulldogs own a stunning victory at Murray State and are challenging for an upper-division league finish.

"I think when they won at Murray State, and the kind of game it was, it really opened a lot of eyes around the conference," Garner said.

OVC power Murray State leads the league in scoring at more than 80 points per game, but the Bulldogs beat the Racers 61-58.

The Bulldogs' offense is designed to often get either layups or wide-open 3-point shots. Not surprisingly, the Bulldogs are one of the nation's best shooting teams.

Samford leads the OVC in both field-goal shooting at nearly 51 percent and 3-point shooting at nearly 41 percent, ranking fifth and fourth nationally in those departments.

Four players average in double figures for the Bulldogs, led by 6-foot-10 senior center Phillip Ramelli at nearly 13 points per game. Tyson Dorsey, a 6-3 senior guard, Dorsey leads the OVC in 3-point shooting at 49 percent.

"They have good shooters all over the floor," Garner said. "All their games are low scoring."

With the way the OVC is shaping up -- Austin Peay is 9-0, Murray State is 6-1 and everybody else has at least three losses -- there figures to be a mad scramble among the rest of the conference teams.

Even though Southeast is reeling at 2-5 and mired toward the bottom of the standings, the Indians are still only two games out of third place. But there's no time like the present to start gaining momentum.

"We need to get a win, there's no question about that," Garner said.