TTU Beats EIU Women, EIU Men Win On Road

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Published on January 14 2019 6:12 am
Last Updated on January 14 2019 6:53 am

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. --  Eastern Illinois women's basketball battled down to the wire with the OVC leading Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles Saturday night. The Panthers finished shooting 49 percent from the field, while the Golden Eagles shot 60 percent. Despite a single-digit lead with a little over a minute left in the fourth quarter, TTU escaped with a 99-88 win over EIU.

EIU falls to 7-8 overall and 1-3 in the OVC. TTU improves to 12-3 overall and 4-0 in the OVC.

TTU was hot from the field in the first half shooting over 65 percent. They knocked down nine three pointers and shot over 69 percent from the arc led by Jordan Brock who was 5-of-8 from three point range before halftime.

The Panthers also found success from the field in the first half shooting over 48 percent. Carmen Tellez led the Panthers with 12 points and all of EIU's three-point field goals. Grace Lennox reached double-figures in the first half knocking down a buzzer beating jumper to end the half.

Tellez and Brock continued to battle from the arc in the third quarter. Tellez hit back-to-back threes to open the second half. Brock hit two in a row for TTU with a little over two minutes left to play in the third. Tellez responded to Brock's back-to back shots with another from the arc forcing the Golden Eagles to call time out leading EIU 70-60. Brock would finish the third quarter with one more three-pointer as EIU closed TTU's lead to seven points.

EIU got the game within five points twice in the fourth quarter. Tellez would knock down her final three-point field goal of the game with just under two minutes remaining, but TTU pulled away to win 99-88 and remain undefeated in conference play.

Tellez recorded a new career-high with 23 points finishing 7-of-10 from the arc. She also matched her career-high five rebounds and recorded a season-best four assists. Lennox finished with 16 points and a season-high seven assists and four steals. Pace extended her double-figure scoring streak to 12 straight games with 14 points off the bench. Jalisha Smith and Abby Wahl each added 10 points for EIU.

Brock set a new career-high with 33 point on 8-of-15 from the arc. Anacia Wilkinson and Akia Harris fell short of a double-doubles. Wilkinson had 18 points and nine rebounds, while Harris had nine points and nine assists. Abby Buckner was the final player in double-figures with 11 points.

The Panthers will be back in action at home next week with a pair of games. EIU will play Murray State at 12 pm on Thursday Jan. 17.

 

 

EIU Men Win On Road

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois overcame a sluggish start to finish strong as the Panthers won on the road Saturday night with a 67-60 win at Tennessee Tech.

EIU improved to 10-7 overall, 3-1 in the OVC.  TTU fell to 6-11 overall, 2-2 in the OVC.

After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half, EIU tied the game on a Mack Smith 3-pointer in the opening minute of the second half.  Josiah Wallace gave EIU its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer with 17:07 left in the game.  Wallace finished with a team-high 15 points.

The Panthers once again received great production from their freshmen on the floor.  Cam Burrell helped spark a 10-2 run midway through the second half that gave EIU a 44-38 lead.  Burrell finished with nine points and two steals.

Shareef Smith would give EIU its biggest lead of the game with 2:15 left in the game as his 3-pointer made it 60-51.  Mack Smith would help close out the game at the line making 5-of-6 at the stripe in the final 25 seconds.  EIU was 14-of-18 from the free throw line for the game.  Smith finished with 14 points.

Eastern Illinois closed the first half with a 10-0 run over the final 3:25 of the first half to trim a 12-point deficit down to two points at the half despite shooting just 33 percent over the first 20 minutes.

Tennessee Tech opened the game with an 8-0 run with EIU scoring its first basket 5:20 into the game on a lay-up by Shareef Smith.   The Golden Eagles would push the lead to ten points on a 3-pointer by Hunter Vick.  A lay-up by Jared Sherfield with 3:45 remaining in the first half gave TTU a 27-15 lead.

Ben Harvey scored six points in the Panthers run to end the first half.  Harvey finished with 12.  EIU’s first half defense forced ten TTU turnovers resulting in ten points off turnovers.   The Panthers forced 18 Golden Eagles turnovers on the night resulting in 22 points off turnovers.

Despite being undersized on the glass, EIU won the battle on the boards finishing with a 43-28 advantage.  JaQualis Matlock pulled down seven rebounds with four on the offensive glass.

Vick finished 20 points to lead TTU with four points coming in the final 21 seconds as EIU was defending the three as they held a six point lead.   Corey Tillery added 13 points.

 


Jacksonville State 90, SIUE 54

JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – SIUE men's basketball dropped its third consecutive Ohio Valley Conference game Saturday, falling on the road at Jacksonville State 90-54.

 "They are a really good team," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "They scratched, clawed and outfought us tonight. They outrebounded us by 18 in the first half. That set the tone."

The Cougars fell to 5-11 overall and 1-3 in the OVC. Jacksonville State improved to 12-5 and 4-0.

"This is the top of the league right here," Harris said of JSU. "This is what we're chasing and it's a good lesson for us."

Each team opened with a layup to tie the score at 2-2 before Jacksonville State took control. The Gamecocks scored the next 12 points and led 14-2 with 13:11 to play in the first half. The closest the Cougars would get the rest of the way out was eight points following an 8-2 Cougars run.

"They played the game the right way," Harris added about the Gamecocks. "They dominated the game. You can't sugarcoat that."

The Gamecocks led 38-24 at halftime and the Cougars never could close the gap to single digits in the second half. JSU swelled its lead to as many as 39 in the second half.

"You have to learn from it," Harris said. "They're a lot of lessons to be taken from this game. You have to take it on the chin and grow from it."

Jacksonville State controlled the paint and the glass. The Gamecocks outscored SIUE 48-18 from inside the Paint and finished with a 47-24 edge in rebounds. The Cougars were 17-56 (30.4 percent) from the field, while Jacksonville State knocked down 60 percent (36-60) of its shots.

David McFarland was the only SIUE player to reach double digit scoring. He scored 10 points. Jaylen McCoy, Cameron Williams and Tyresse Williford each added nine points.

Jason Burnell led Jacksonville State with 17 points. Jacara Cross scored 15 and Marlon Hunter scored 14.

SIUE returns to Vadalabene Center for games against Austin Peay Thursday and Murray State Saturday.

"We have an opportunity with the home stand next week," Harris said. "We have two challenging games, but two winnable games next week. We have to get back to playing the way we were and we'll be fine."