EIU Men, Women Drop Basketball Losses

Print

Published on November 18 2016 9:20 am
Last Updated on November 18 2016 9:20 am
Written by Millie Lange

ST. LOUIS – Eastern Illinois led 44-33 at the half but the Panthers opened the second half cold from the floor as they lost 74-69 at Saint Louis on Thursday night.

SLU improved to 2-1.  EIU fell to 1-2 and will host Western Illinois at 7 p.m. on Saturday night in Lantz Arena.

EIU was held scoreless for the first six and half minutes to open the second half as SLU took a 44-43 lead on a 3-pointer by Davell Roby with 17:08 to play in the game.  Roby would lead the Billkens with 18 points as four SLU players finished in double figures.

EIU ended the scoring drought with a Casey Teson jumper that stopped a 15-0 SLU run.  Teson would tie the game at 57-57 for the Panthers with a 3-pointer.  Teson had eight points.  The sophomore guard from just outside Saint Louis had a chance to win the game for EIU as Cornell Johnston stole the ball with 16 seconds remaining.  Teson’s 3-pointer was contested and fell short off the rim.

Saint Louis closed out the game at the free throw line hitting 7-of-10 down the stretch.  The Billikens shot 51.7 percent in the second half to finish at 49.1 percent for the game.

EIU cooled off in the second half shooting 38.2 percent for the game.  Johnston led EIU with 18 points and seven assists.

Eastern Illinois closed the first half with a 16-3 run as the Panthers were hot from 3-point range in the first half.  EIU was 8-of-16 from 3-point range in the opening half with four of those in the final 3:29 of the half.  Demetrius McReynolds hit a 3-pointer to start the run as he had 13 points, all in the first half.

Saint Louis native Johnston had 14 first half points as he followed McReynolds late first half 3’s with back-to-back 3-pointers that pushed EIU’s lead to 39-30 with 2:01 to play in the half.

After Reggie Agbeko stopped an 11-0 EIU with a basket in the low post, Montell Goodwin drained a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a ten point lead.  McReynolds had a tip in in the final four seconds of the half to give EIU a 44-33 halftime advantage. Goodwin had 11 points in the game.

EIU held a 17-16 first half rebound margin with Muusa Dama pulling down ten first half rebounds, his second straight double figure rebounding game.  Dama finished the game with 15 boards.

Agbeko finished with 18 points before fouling out in the final minutes.  Jermaine Bishop added 14 points and Elliott Welmer had 15.


Women -- Wright State 71, EIU 61

The Eastern Illinois women's basketball team couldn't hang on to a slim first half lead as Wright State won 71-61 Thursday evening thanks to a big second half effort. Following the loss the Panthers drop to 2-1 on the season while Wright State improves to 3-0.

Three Panthers scored in double figures led by Allison Van Dyke with 15 points. Erica Brown broke double digits in rebounds finishing the game with 12, but EIU was out-rebounded by the Raiders 37-33 for the game.

EIU finished the game out-shooting the Raiders 42 percent to 39 percent, but Wright State came up big in the third period shooting 62 percent to pull ahead in a close game.

Wright State jumped out in front early with the first five points of the game eventually halted by a layup from Jalisha Smith at the 8:56 mark. Smith finished the game with 10 points and seven rebounds. Both teams traded buckets as EIU built up a little breathing room leading by as much as four points thanks to a Van Dyke layup to make it 14-10 with 3:11 left to go in the first quarter.

The Panthers closed out the first period leading 17-15.

EIU opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run capped off by a layup from Brittin Boyer at the 6:28 mark to make it 23-15. Boyer finished the game with 10 points to tie her career high while adding six rebounds.

The Panthers pushed their lead to as high as nine points in the period with a jumper from Grace Lennox with two minutes left in the half to bring the score to 29-20. Lennox recorded nine points in the game along with four assists. Wright State limited the damage as they headed into halftime as Chelsea Welch earned back-to-back buckets to send both teams into the locker room with EIU leading 29-24.

The Raiders came out of the locker room fired up going on a 7-2 run to open the second half and tie the game at 31 a piece at the 7:05 mark. A three-pointer from Carmen Tellez put EIU back in front but Wright State answered with two free throws and a three-pointer of their own courtesy of Emily Vogelpohl to earn their first lead since the opening minutes of the game 36-34 with 5:09 left in the third quarter.

It was back-and-forth through most of the period until Wright State closed out the quarter on a 9-2 run in the final two minutes of the third period capped off by another Vogelpohl three-pointer to make it 48-42 in favor of the Raiders headed into the fourth quarter.

Wright State out-scored EIU 24-13 in the third quarter going 4-for-7 from the three-point line.

The Raiders managed to keep EIU at arms length throughout the fourth quarter. The Panthers got as close as two points following a three-pointer from Van Dyke at the five minute mark to make it 58-56, but Wright State regained their cushion with a layup and yet another three-pointer this time from Welch to make it 63-56 with 2:15 left to go.

Wright State closed out the match at the free throw line to earn the 71-61 victory.

WSU was 6-for-11 from beyond the three-point line in the second half finishing the game 7-for-21. Vogelpohl recorded a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds while Welch led all scorers with 23 points.

The Panthers have a quick turnaround as they head to Florida for their next two matches beginning with Stetson Saturday at 4 pm.