Illinois Falls To Ohio State, EIU Women Win, Men Lose

After a slow start in the first half, the Illini went on a 18-9 run to pull within two with :15 left. However, the Buckeyes hit four straight free throws to ice the game.

Kofi Cockburn recorded his tenth double-double of the season, his seventh in B1G play. Adam Miller recorded a career-high in rebounds (7) and Dosunmu led the team in assists (five).

DOUBLE-DIGIT DOSUNMU

Dosunmu scored double digits in his 29th straight game dating back to last season. He was last held to single-digit points on 1/05/2020 when the Illini defeated Purdue 63-37 at the State Farm Center.

UP NEXT

The Illini are back at the State Farm Center on Jan. 19 to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 PM CT and will be broadcasted on BTN.

POSTGAME NOTES

Ayo Dosunmu had 22 points, five assists, and four rebounds. Dosunmu is averaging 22.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game this season.

Dosunmu is one of only two players in the nation averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and four assists this season (Taevion Kinsey, Marshall). 

Kofi Cockburn had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Cockburn leads the NCAA with 10 double-doubles on the year. He has registered double-doubles in seven of eight Big Ten contests and is averaging 19.5 points and 11.1 boards during league play on 74% shooting.

Over the last four games, freshman Adam Miller is averaging 11.8 points (47) and making an average of 3.0 treys (12) while shooting 40% from behind the arc (12-30).

EIU Women 73, EKU 68

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois (6-7, 4-4 OVC) stunned the EKU Colonels (6-6, 5-3 OVC) in a defining game for the Panthers, 73-68.

EIU was led by Karle Pace who scored a career-high 32 points in today's big win. Kira Arthofer recorded a new career-high 11 assists.

This three-game stretch has been monumental for the Panthers to get the conference season back on track. The Panthers have now won three straight and head to the team with the highest win percentage in the OVC, Belmont. The Panthers will face the Bruins Thursday, Jan. 21, at 4 p.m.

QUICK STATS

Karle Pace scored a career-high 32 points.

Thirty-two points is the most by a Panther this season

The last time EIU had a player with 30 or more points was Jan. 30, 2020, against Murray State, where Lariah Washington scored 35 points.

Kira Arthofer recorded a career-high 11 assists.

The Panthers forced over 20 assists for the third time this season.

EIU has now recorded back-to-back games with over ten steals.

Eastern Kentucky 93, EIU Men 85

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Michael Moreno hit a three-pointer for Eastern Kentucky with 2.3 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime on Saturday afternoon at First Mid Court at Lantz Arena. 

In the overtime session Eastern Kentucky outscored Eastern Illinois, 19-11, as the Colonels beat Eastern Illinois, 93-85. EIU fell to 5-8 overall, 2-4 in the OVC as the Panthers had an opposing team sink a 3-pointer near the end of regulation to decide the game for the second straight Saturday. Last week Terry Taylor hit a 3-pointer as time expired to carry Austin Peay to a 74-71 win over EIU.  EKU, ranked No. 18 in the CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25, improved to 12-2 overall, 6-1 in the OVC. 

In a close game that EKU led 41-38 at the half, the two teams had 13 ties and 11 lead changes with most of those coming in the second half. 
Henry Abraham would tie the game for EIU with a 3-pointer making it 66-66 with 3:36 remaining.  Cooper Robb would put EKU back in front with a 3-poitner on the next possession before Sammy Friday IV had a pair of big plays for the Panthers. 

Friday scored on a nice post move with 2:58 remaining and forced a steal on the next possession leading to a dunk by Marvin Johnson that gave EIU a one-point lead with 1:49 to play. 

A Friday bucket with 1:49 to play pushed the Panthers lead to three at 72-69. The graduate transfer was one of four EIU players in double figures finishing with 18 points.  

Tre King’s dunk with 37 seconds remaining brought EKU back within one with the Panthers responding with 13 seconds left in the contest with a dunk by Barlow Alleruzzo IV.  That EIU basket set the stage for Moreno’s heroics.  King would led EKU with 24 points before fouling out in overtime.  Moreno scored ten as five EKU players scored in double figures.   

In the overtime session EKU used an 8-0 run to open up an 88-83 lead with 1:57 left to play.  The Panthers had gone up three on three free throws by Johnson.  In the run Wendell Green Jr., and Curt Lewis both knocked down 3-pointers for the Colonels. Lewis finished with 18 points, Green with 17.   

EIU cut the lead to two points on a Friday basket but could get no closer in the overtime session. Johnson led EIU with 20 points while George Dixon and Kashawn Charles both finished with ten. 

The Panthers finished the night 6-of-28 from 3-point range for 21.4 percent while EKU connected on 12-of-23 for 52.2 percent from long range. 

Changes For SIUE Men's Squad

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The Ohio Valley Conference and SIUE men's basketball have announced several schedule changes, as SIUE continues to work with the OVC and other league schools to reschedule games which were previously postponed.

The following games have been rescheduled:

Eastern Illinois at SIUE, Tues. Feb. 2, 4 p.m., Edwardsville, Illinois

SIUE at Jacksonville State, Mon. Feb. 15, 6 p.m., Jacksonville, Alabama

Morehead State at SIUE, Tue. Feb. 23, 2 p.m., Edwardsville, Illinois

All of the games were originally scheduled for First Community Arena at SIUE. The Jacksonville State game has been moved and the Cougars and Gamecocks now will play twice in Jacksonville.