INDIANS FOCUS ON CONSITENCY; SOUTHEAST FACES TOUGH ROAD BATTLE WITH SOUTHERN

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Those who plan to stay around for the Missouri Intercollegiate Athletic Association post-season party will have to maintain the highest level of consistency from here on out.

Perhaps no one is more aware of this than Southeast Missouri State coach Ron Shumate, who has been more consistent in the conference than any of his peers the last nine years.

Shumate has won seven of the last nine MIAA titles including last year's championship.

Mindful that the Indians were picked to finish fourth this season, Shumate knows he has to have his team ready for a prime-time struggle each game.

Shumate could see championship caliber signs in his squad's thrilling victory over Central Missouri last Saturday.

"We reached a level of play against Central Missouri that we must maintain each game from here on out," said Shumate, whose squad knocked off then-ranked No. 2 Central Missouri State 81-77. "Our players showed what kind of potential they have, but we must get consistency out of everyone if we hope to go anywhere this year," said Shumate.

"Our team looked like some of the past teams here," added Shumate. "I was happy to see us play with the consistency you need to have in this conference. We only committed five turnovers against Central Missouri as opposed to 31 against UMSL the other night.

"Thirty-one turnovers is just atrocious. You just can't play like that and hope to win, especially on the road."

Southeast has had difficulty playing well on a consistent basis. "We've been up and down and up and down all year," said Shumate. "Hopefully we're to the point where we can come up with the same kind of performance every time we play from here on out."

The Indians have little time to savor the key victory over CMSU. Up next is Missouri Southern, now 7-4 overall and 2-0 in the MIAA. Southern is coming off a 94-65 victory over Lincoln. The other conference win for the Lions became an 80-68 decision over Pittsburg State at home.

Wednesday's road encounter is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m.

"Missouri Southern is a better team than the one we saw last year and they took us into overtime at their place," noted Shumate. "Elgin Watson (Southeast assistant coach) scouted Missouri Southern and said they're better than UMSL."

The Indians hammered Southern 111-75 at the Show Me Center but were taken into ovetime before prevailing 96-85 in Joplin last season.

One of the newcomers who should pose problems for the Tribe is 6-foot-5 junior college transfer Kenny Simpson, who last played for Moberly. Simpson is averaging 20.2 points a game and 10.9 rebounds.

Simpson was named MIAA Player of the week, averaging 23 points a game. The Southern forward hit 29-of-47 from the floor (61 percent and 11-of-15 from the charity stripe (73 percent). He also pulled down 34 rebounds and had two assists, one block and six steals.

"Simpson is just one of several good players for Missouri Southern," said Shumate.

"They've got a lineup that really has three guards. They will use a 5-9 kid (Keith Allen; 13.7 points, 2.0 rebounds), a 5-11 player (Spencer Allen; 10.8 points, 4.0 rebounds) and then a 6-2 player (Shay Hagel; 5.8 points, 2.9 rebounds)," said Shumate.

"Then they'll bring Ronnie Ressel off the bench. Ressel is a very fine player who started for Missouri Southern last year."

Ressel is a former all-stater at Notre Dame High School in Cape.

SOUTHEAST NOTES : Having knocked off No. 2-ranked CMSU, Southeast has a shot at cracking the top 20 in this week's Division II poll. Shumate says he isn't interested in whether or not it happens. "I can't get caught up in that and I don't think our players should either," said Shumate. "We weren't thinking about the No. 2-ranked team when we prepared for Central Missouri. We were just getting ready to play a very talented basketball team. We've got to look at every game like that."