OTAHKS 14TH, THREE MIAA TEAMS IN MEN'S POLL

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- The Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association Conference was well represented when the first Division II Top 20 poll was released earlier this week.

Three teams in the MIAA were ranked in the poll, including Central Missouri State, Southeast Missouri State's Saturday night foe.

In the women's poll, Southeast's Otahkians also made the poll as the Otahkians were 14th in the first women's poll of the season.

The Mules were ranked second in the country in Division II and were just seven votes behind top-ranked Ashland College of Ohio. The two teams were tied for second in the preseason rankings behind North Alabama, which fell to fourth.

Central will bring a perfect 11-0 mark into the Show-Me Center for their game against the Indians, which will be the conference home openr for Southeast.

The Mules were an easy 95-55 winner over Lincoln in their home opener on Wednesday night in Warrensburg.

Missouri Western, with an 11-1 mark after a win at home against Northeastern Wednesday, cracked the top 10 by grabbing the number 10 spot in the poll, while Southwest Baptist snuck into the rnakings at number 20.

The Otahkians, now 10-2 after a convincing win on the road at Missouri-St. Louis, have done well to remain ranked after winning two of their first three conference games without some of their key players.

Southeast is the only MIAA team to be ranked in the women's poll.

INDIAN NOTES: Southeast's loss to UMSL on Wednesday marked only the fifth time in 22 games that the Rivermen beat the Indians with Shumate at the helm of Southeast.

Southeast won both games against UMSL a year ago and hold a 25-11 overall record against the Rivermen...

Shumate also has the upperhand against Central.

Under Shumate, Southeast is 15-11 against the Mules. But the Indians have lost their last three games to Central and the Mules hold a 92-63 edge against the Tribe in the overall series...

Southeast's once vaunted defense has taken a beating this season. The Indians are giving up an average of over 85 points a game heading into Saturday's contest with the Mules, bad enough for last in the conference

Southeast does, however, lead the conference in scoring, averaging just under 100 points a game...

Wednesday night's 67 points in the loss against UMSL was the lowest point total of the season for Southeast. Their next lowest was 75 points in a 10-point loss at Union, Tenn....

Southeast is well represented in the MIAA individual statistics heading into conference play. Danny Dohogne (18.8 ppg) and Devon Lake (17.7) both were in the top 10 scoring leaders heading into conference play while Thomas Thames was second (10.5 rpg) in rebounding. Dohogne was second in the conference in field goal percentage...

QUICK QUOTES: Southeast coach Ron Shumate, after being reminded by the Indian Basketball Network's Dave Winder that his team came back and won the MIAA after losing the opener against UMSL in 1981-82: "I'm not a pessimist, but that isn't going to happen. There's too many good teams in the conference this year for us to be able to do that..."

Shoemate, on the strength of this year's conference: "The MIAA is stronger than ever this year. I feel Central Missouri State is the best team in Division II and I believe they'll win the national championship. Missouri Western and Southwest Baptist also have the talent to challenge for a national title..."

Shoemate, on Saturday night's game with Central: "Central is the best team in Division II and hopefully we'll have a sell-out at the Show Me Center for the game.

"This will be the final regular season game with Central and hopefully it will be a great game like most of those in the series over the past nine seasons."