EIU Men Win, EIU Women, SIUE Drop Losses

EIU improved to 8-16 overall, 5-12 in the OVC.  MSU fell to 12-10 overall, 9-8 in the OVC. 

The Panthers shot the ball well in the first half and dominated play on the glass as they built a 31-29 lead.  EIU shot 59 percent in the opening half and held a 21-8 rebound margin.   EIU finished the game at 57 percent with a 34-26 rebound edge. 

Mack Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers with his second coming at the 7:08 mark of the first half staking EIU to a ten point lead at 24-14.  Jordan Skipper-Brown would answer baskets by Murray State on the next two possessions with dunks.  Skipper-Brown finished with his third double-double of the season with 14 points and 10 rebounds.  The senior added four blocks. 

The Racers would end the half on a 7-0 run to trail by two at the half and then opened the second half with a basket by KJ Williams to tie the game at 31-31.  Williams was one of three Murray State players in double figures with 15 points. 

Marvin Johnson responded with a 5-0 run of his own giving the Panthers a lead they would never relinquish.  Johnson had 18 points to go with six rebounds.   
Deang Deang’s 3-pointer with 10:17 left in the game pushed the Panthers lead back out to double figures at 53-43.  Deang finished with ten points off the bench with seven coming during an early run in the first half.   

EIU would lead by as many as 12 points four times in the second half in the final eight minutes, the last 12-point margin coming with 56 seconds remaining on free throws by Johnson.  Murray State would get as close as seven points with 18 seconds remaining on a Chico Carter Jr., lay-up.  Carter led the Racers with 21 points.   Tevin Brown added 11. 

Murray State 69, EIU 52 (Women)

MURRAY, Ky. -- Eastern Illinois (9-13, 7-10 OVC) fell to the Murray State Racers (12-10, 9-8 OVC), 69-52. The Panthers were undone by a 5-point third quarter. The Panthers were led in scoring by Lariah Washington, who finished the game with 13 points. The Racers were led by Katelyn Young, who finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds. The Panthers will finish the road trip against Austin Peay on Saturday, Feb. 20, at 1 p.m.

QUICK STATS

Karle Pace moves up to the 12th-most career-points.

The Panthers went 1-16 from the field in the third quarter (5 total points).

Third game in-a-row they've scored 6 points or fewer in a quarter.

Panthers scored double-digit bench points for the second game in-a-row (13)

Paige Schumann scored a season-high 5 points.

The Panthers shot 28% from the field in the game.

The Panthers were outscored in the paint 38-14.

QUARTER-BY-QUARTER

The Racers struck first in the game, going on a 6-0 run to start the game. The Panthers were forced to fight the uphill battle from the beginning. Katelyn Young was all over the boards early on. Parker Stafford and Wahl battled with her in the post. Wahl played a great inside-out game against Young as she nailed a 3-point jumper and made a layup to give her 5 points early. Hughes managed to nail both of her outside shots to give her 6 points. The Panthers kept the ball protected: finishing the quarter with no turnovers. The Racers led at the end of the quarter, 20-19.

Kira Arthofer drew a foul early in the quarter to give the Panthers the chance to take the lead. Arthofer nailed both to give EIU their first lead. Wahl continued to attempt outside jumpers as she hit her second 3-pointer of the game. Murray State's Macey Turley responded quickly with a 3-pointer of her own to pull the Racers back within one. Stafford, Wahl, and Grace McRae all found themselves playing significant time in the quarter to adjust to the rebounding imbalance that the Racers had taken. The Panthers were able to hold the Racers to only 17% from beyond the arc: an uncanny comparison to their usual 31%. Eastern Illinois major issue continued to be rebounding. At the end of the quarter, Murray State out-rebounded the Panthers 24-13. The Racers held the lead heading into halftime, 34-30.

Coming out of the break, Murray State made three consecutive shots to put the Racers up 10 points and forcing Matt Bollant to take a quick timeout. Neither team could get their offenses going, as the Panthers scored just 2 points off a pair of Washington free-throws in the first half of the third quarter. The Panthers scored their first field goal off a Taylor Steele layup with three minutes left to go in the quarter. The Panthers' offense found nothing doing and finished the quarter scoring only 5 points. The Racers had run away with the lead, 51-35.

The Panthers came out chipping away at the Racers' lead early in the fourth quarter. Washington managed 5-quick-points as the Panthers began to up the aggression on offense. The lead was too much to overcome, however, as the Panthers fell 69-52. 

Austin Peay 79, SIUE 57 (Men)

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Austin Peay swept the season series from SIUE with a 79-57 win Thursday at the Dunn Center.

The Cougars have now lost three straight games and fell to 8-13 overall and 6-9 in Ohio Valley Conference play. The Governors are 14-9 overall and 10-7 in the OVC.

"We came out with the mindset of trying to attack the rim and share the ball," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "We didn't make enough shots. We tried to share it and they were really loading to the ball."

The Cougars made just 39 percent of their shots and connected on just 36 percent in the second half.

SIUE went ahead 18-17 at the 11:00 minute mark in the first half with a jumper from the right side from Mike Adewunmi, but Austin Peay responded, scoring the next 14 points to go up 31-18. Sidney Wilson broke the run with a three for the Cougars with 5:03 left before halftime.

It was 38-21 when the Cougars went on a run of their own, scoring the next seven points to cut the lead to 10 (38-28) at halftime.

SIUE got as close as nine points early in the second half, but it was as close as they would get.

"We lost them in transition two or three times," Barone said. "They banked in a couple of threes one in transition and one at the end of the shot clock."

Terry Taylor led all scorers with 22 points, while also adding a game-high 12 rebounds.

"Keeping Terry Taylor off the glass was tough," Barone added.

Adewunmi scored 17 points to lead the Cougars. He was 4-6 from the field and 8-10 at the free throw line.

"Mike has really done a good job of embracing what his game is," Barone said. "It helps me as a coach because I can coach to that. He plays with effort and energy. Sometimes he's a bull in a china shop, but I like that because he does finish around the basket. He has a certain amount of explosiveness and toughness about him."

Sidney Wilson was the only other Cougar in double figures scoring. He scored 14 and was 6-15 shooting.

"Sidney had some good energy today for sure," Barone said. "I like that his finishing around the room is improving. It was nice to have him see the ball go in."
Wilson's 14 points, combined with seven from Michael Matas and three from Zane Butler gave SIUE a 24-4 edge in bench points.

Butler, who joined the team at the semester, played a career-best 21 minutes, knocked down his first three-pointer, pulled down five rebounds and added an assist, without a turnover.

"Butler is about what we're about," Barone said of the freshman guard. "He wanted to be a part of this team."

Matas scored seven points on 3-5 shooting and added two rebounds.

"We have five games in 7-8 days down the stretch," Barone continued We have to trust our bench. Those guys stepped up. They competed and contributed."
SIUE travels to Murray State for its final regular season road game Saturday. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 against the Racers.