WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Kentucky 68,
@Eastern Illinois 59
@Southern Illinois 83,
UT Martin 54
EASTERN KENTUCKY 68, EASTERN ILLINOIS 59
CHARLESTON, Ill. - Eastern Illinois men's basketball built some momentum heading into the half as Andre Washington's 3-pointer with just under four seconds left gave EIU the lead over Eastern Kentucky.
A slow start to the second half allowed EKU to regain the lead and pick up a 68-59 win over Eastern Illinois in a match-up between two former Ohio Valley Conference rivals.
Washington scored 11 points in his season debut after missing the first eight games of the season due to injury. The Long Island University transfer was one of three Panthers to score in double figures on Wednesday night at Groniger Arena.
Leading 32-31 at the break, EIU opened the second half 1-for-7 from the floor before Meechie White snapped a 12-2 Colonels run with a 3-pointer with 14:03 to play. White finished with 12 points and five assists.
The Panthers cut the lead down to six before EKU pushed it back to double figures on a dunk by Yvens Paul, one of three Colonels in double figures with ten points.
EKU played with a double digit lead most of the second half with EIU mounting a late run to cut the lead to five following a Zion Fruster driving lay-up with 4:11 to play. EIU made a defensive stop on the next possession but could not convert offensively as the Colonels pushed it back to a double figure game in the final minute on free throws by Turner Buttry.
Fruster was the third Panther in double figures with 16 points as EIU fell to 2-7 on the season.
EKU improved to 3-7 on the year. Buttry and Juan Cranford Jr both had 14 points.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 83, UT MARTIN 54
CARBONDALE, Ill. - The University of Tennessee at Martin men’s basketball team battled for the first 20 minutes tonight at Southern Illinois but the Skyhawks could not find their footing in the second half in an 83-54 setback to the Salukis.
UT Martin led for over six minutes in the first half and was within striking distance at the halftime break, trailing 34-27. However, Southern Illinois shot 57.1 percent (32-of-56) for the contest while the Skyhawks made 33.9 percent (19-for-56) of their field goal attempts while committing 19 turnovers.
Andrija Bukumirovic tallied nine points and a game-high seven rebounds to lead UT Martin (7-3) tonight. Matas Deniusas equaled Bukumirovic with nine points with a team-best three assists while Damien King (eight points, five rebounds, two steals), Filip Radakovic (seven points) and Afan Trnka (seven points, two blocks) trailed closely behind in the scoring column. Filip Petkovski (five points), Pedro Santos (five) and Lamine Niang (four) concluded the scoring for the Skyhawks.
The Salukis (6-4) were led by 17 points from Davion Sykes while Quel’Ron House and Jalen Haynes each scored 12 points apiece.
Deniusas scored five straight points early before a King three-pointer capped off an 8-0 UT Martin run and gave the Skyhawks a 12-7 advantage at the first media timeout. Trnka drilled a triple coming out of the second media timeout that kept UT Martin’s lead at four (15-11) but nine unanswered Southern Illinois points followed.
Back-to-back buckets inside from Niang pulled the Skyhawks within one point (28-27) with two minutes to go before the halftime break but the Salukis accounted for the final six points of the half. Deniusas’ seven points led all scorers at the half while Sykes’ six points topped Southern Illinois.
An old-fashioned three-point play by Radakovic opened the UT Martin scoring in the second half. The Skyhawks eventually clawed back within four when a pair of Deniusas free throws made the score 38-34 with 17 minutes left to play.
The Salukis then went on a 17-1 run before a trey by Petkovski temporarily halted the Southern Illinois momentum. Bukumirovic and Radakovic both scored four points apiece during an 8-2 UT Martin run that made the score 61-46 with a little under seven minutes remaining. However, that would be as close as the Skyhawks would get the rest of the way.