Omaha Downs EIU Men, SIUE Drops Game

LAS VEGAS – Omaha used a 14-3 run late in the first half to open up a narrow lead as the Mavericks beat Eastern Illinois, 80-68, at the Global Sports Classic in Las Vegas.

EIU will play at 1 p.m. (Central) on Tuesday against either North Carolina Central or Southern University in the final game of the Global Sports Classic.   EIU fell to 2-8 while Omaha improved to 7-6.

EIU had an early lead but Omaha turned up the defensive pressure as they built an eight point lead.  Tra-Deon Hollis, the nation's steal leader, had four steals as Omaha had 13 as a team. Omaha converted 13 first half EIU turnovers into 21 points.

The late run was started by turnovers and low post baskets by Jake White who finished with a game high 20 points.  EIU had a basket by Lucas Jones and free throw by Trae Anderson as its scoring over the final four minutes.  Omaha led 41-25 at the half.

Omaha extended the lead to as high as 22 points at the 13:05 mark of the second half.  EIU chipped away at the lead with Anderson taking the ball into the paint.  Anderson led EIU with 15 points with nine rebounds.  EIU won the battle on the glass for the first time this season finishing with a 46-30 rebound edge including 23 offensive rebounds.

EIU was able to get the Omaha lead down to ten points on a 3-pointer by Demetrius McReynolds with 1:48 to play as the Mavericks led 72-62 at that point.  McReynolds had 11 points.  Cornell Johnston rounded out the double figure scorers for EIU with 12 points.

Omaha had 18 points from Tre'Shawn Thurman and 15 points from Devin Patterson.  Hollins had 11 assists for the Mavericks.

EIU Loga Ranks Second

SportsLogos.net - a prominent website that covers branding & logos across the sports world - recently released its annual Logo of the Year Awards for 2015 and the new Eastern Illinois Panthers logo ranked second on the list among athletic teams and franchises.
 
The new EIU Panther primary logo, which was unveiled in early October, was selected as the No. 2 Best New Primary Logo of 2015.  The winning logo for the year was from the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.  The third place logo was from the West Virginia Black Bears, a minor league team that plays in the New York-Penn League.   
 
To be eligible for the awards a new team logo must have made its on-field/ice/court debut during the 2015 calendar year.  There were well over 150 new primary team logos that qualified for the list.
 
In addition to Eastern Illinois, six other NCAA schools ranked on the Top 50 logos list ranked by SportsLogos.net   Howard University was fourth.  UNC Wilmington was 11th.  Northern Colorado was 21st.  Hartford was 24th.  The United States Military Academy (Army) was ranked 31st and Saint Louis University was ranked 42nd.
 
The new EIU Panther logo was developed by the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) based in Atlanta.  It was unveiled on October 7 and the EIU football team was the first to use the logo in competition during the Panthers Oct. 10 Family Weekend game on ESPN3 against Southeast Missouri.
 
At the unveiling EIU Board of Trustees student representative Catie Witt stated "I think this logo is very modern and could help draw students to the university.  Personally I think it is awesome.  I could not be more honored to have served on this committee and be presenting the new logo."
 
Since the spring a committee of people from EIU administration, athletics, the EIU bookstore and Witt have worked with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) on this logo.  The committee looked at a number of different looks and color schemes that would work best in the new logo.

The EIU Panther logo placed higher on the SportsLogos.net list than some prominent teams and programs:

SIUE Drop Decision to Southerna California

LOS ANGELES – SIUE men's basketball shot just 27.9 percent from the field and committed 19 turnovers Monday, dropping a 70-51 decision at Southern California.

The Cougars fell to 3-8 overall with the loss. USC, which has won four five straight, improved to 10-2.

"It was a very disappointing effort tonight," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "I don't think our guys competed at the level that they have been."

USC led 39-21 at the break, following a first half in which the Cougars connected on just 24.3 percent (9 of 37) of their shots. For the game, SIUE was 19 of 68 from the field.

"Obviously when you shoot under 30 percent it's not ideal, but it was our defense and our turnovers that cost us the game," Harris said. "We had multiple chances in the second half to get the lead under 10 points even shooting as poorly as we did."

The Cougars twice trimmed the lead to 12 in the second half, but each time USC was able to extend the advantage.

The 19 turnovers were the second-most committed by SIUE this season.