FEELING TRAPPED—Southeastern’s Robert Tibbs (11) tries to find a way out as Miles College defenders Eddie Ishman (15) and Dexter LeFlore (23) harass him in Monday’s 95-69 Lions’ romp. By John Lenz

Southeastern's basketball home opener against Div. II Miles College was anything but pretty and clean and neat.

To call the Lions' 95-69 victory over the Golden Bears Monday night in the University Center ‘workmanlike', Lions coach Jim Yarbrough said, was an insult to blue-collar types everywhere.

“‘Workmanlike' with two left feet, maybe," Yarbrough chuckled. “We stumbled around a little bit. We were like a V-8 missing a cylinder or two. But we were able to overcome it.”

What may be dawning on Yarbrough is that the Lions (1-1) have a Hemi, and when they get all eight cylinders clicking, they might be pretty quick.

A lot of them were on Monday. Kevyn Green scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures, and to be fair it's hard to maintain focus after you open the game with an 11-0 run, survive a push by Miles College (0-1), then blast out a 23-point lead at halftime.

Two true freshmen guards put on impressive debuts. DeShawn Patterson scored 17 points and added eight rebounds and six assists off the bench, while point gurd Brandon Fortenberry did commit five turnovers after having none against Arkansas, but he also had eight assists and three streals to go with six points.

And, of course, the veterans did their part. Warrell Span recorded a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, Hammond's Chris Cyprian added 13 points and Patrick Sullivan chipped in with 11.

"It wasn't exactly what we had in mind," Yarbrough said. "The first few minutes were pretty good, but it became a wild-wooly affair. They (Miles) went away from a traditional lineup and went very small and created some matchup problems for us. We had to make an adjustment and we went smaller and we were able to wear them down."

Green scored five points in the Lions' opening run before Miles (0-1) scored on Flawaan Flaggs' bucket at the 17:56 mark. The Golden Bears roared back, cutting the lead to 13-12 on a 3-pointer by Flaggs before Southeastern put the game away with a 12-2 run to take a 25-14 lead.

Southeastern shot 52 percent in the first half as it built a 46-23 lead at halftime and built its biggest lead, 84-56, on a pair of free throws by Span with 4:54 left. Miles closed to within 58-43 on two free throws by LeDarius Welch with 13:03 remaining, but Patterson opened a 9-2 run for the Lions with a dunk.

Dexter LeFlore led Miles with a game-high 24 points with Leon McKinney adding 13 and Flaggs 12. The Golden Bears committed 22 turnovers and shot 34 percent for the game.

“I'm not sure what this game means to us,” Yarbrough said. “I was very pleased with what we were able to accomplish at Arkansas the other night. It's harder to judge with a Div. II team.

“But we've got some weapons. We just have to get it all sorted out.”

Southeastern returns to action on Thursday at Atlantic Sun member Lipscomb at 8:15 p.m. to open a two-game road trip. The Lions, who will return to the University Center on Nov. 29 against Dillard, closes out the road trip next Tuesday at Big 12 member Texas Tech.