WEDNESDAY'S SCORES
Eastern Illinois 92, @Iowa 83
@Morehead State 66, Alice Lloyd 50
Southern Illinois 70,
@Southeast Missouri 68
SIUE 69, @Saint Louis 67
EASTERN ILLINOIS 92, IOWA 83
IOWA CITY, Iowa - Eastern Illinois trailed Iowa 45-37 at the half. The Panthers connected for 72 percent from the floor in the second half to pick up just their second-ever win over a Big Ten conference school.
At the end of the day, EIU won 92-83 to post their fourth-ever win over a Power Five Conference school and snapped Iowa's 24-game home non-conference win streak.
Iowa opened with an 18-4 run following a jumper by Payton Sandford with 14:37 in the opening half.
EIU was able to cut the margin down to five points in the first half on a 3-pointer by Caleb Donaldson with 3:46 left to play. Donaldson finished with 16 points, one of five Panthers in double figures in the win.
A pair of dunks by Kinyon Hodges early in the second half sparked a 9-2 run by the Panthers as they inched to within in one point with 16:17 to play in the game. Hodges had six dunks in the game finishing with a team high 22 points.
A 3-pointer by Yaakema Rose Jr., with 14:31 gave the Panthers their first lead of the second half. The margin grew to four on another pair of back-to-back dunks by Hodges sparking an 8-3 run.
Key 3-pointers by Dan Luers and Donaldson in the second half allowed the Panthers margin to grow.
EIU ended the day with several key statistical wins including a 54-10 advantage in bench scoring. The Panthers won the battle on the glass by a 42-38 margin, Sincere Malone, Kyle Thomas and Jermaine Hamlin all had seven rebounds for EIU.
Rose finished with 13 points, Thomas had 13 and Luers ten for the Panthers.
Iowa was held to 31 percent shooting in the second half as Filip Rebraca scored 24 points. Patrick McCaffery had a double-double with 12 points, 13 rebounds.
The Panthers end non-conference play at 4-9. Iowa falls to 8-4.
EIU's all-time Power Five Conference wins are now over Iowa (2022), Missouri (2017), Wisconsin (1987) and Ole Miss (1974).
MOREHEAD STATE 66, ALICE LLOYD 50
MOREHEAD, Ky. - Alex Gross registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Mark Freeman nearly did as well with 12 points and nine assists, to lead the Morehead State men's basketball team over the Alice Lloyd (Ky.) Eagles 66-50 on FamilyLeisure.com Court Wednesday.
The Eagles (7-6) had four players score in double figures, led by Jake Wolfe, who had 13 points and two steals. Drew Thelwell tacked on 12 points and seven rebounds.
Morehead State grabbed 49 rebounds in Wednesday's game compared to Alice Lloyd's 32, led by Gross' 11 boards. The Eagles also put in work on the offensive glass, turning 14 rebounds into 12 second chance points.
The Morehead State defense held Alice Lloyd shooters to just 33 percent from the field, including 23 percent from three-point range. ALC also did not get many second opportunities on the offensive end, as the visitors grabbed only six offensive rebounds and scored five second chance points while Morehead State pulled down 35 defensive rebounds.
After jumping out to a 28-21 advantage, Morehead State went on a 6-0 run with 3:49 left in the first half to increase its lead to 34-21. The Eagles then lost some of that lead, but still entered halftime with a 36-25 advantage. Morehead State did most of its first half damage in the paint, scoring 24 of its 36 points close to the basket.
Following intermission, Morehead State kept widening that lead, expanding it to 52-40 before going on a 6-0 run, finished off by Branden Maughmer's jumper, to grow the lead to 58-40 with 5:17 to go in the contest. ALC narrowed the margin somewhat before the game was over, but the Eagles still cruised the rest of the way for the 66-50 win.
Morehead State shot well from three-point range in the half, hitting four shots from deep to score 12 of its 30 points.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS 70, SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 68
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Chris Harris scored 19 points and Phillip Russell added 17 as Southeast Missouri (5-8) dropped a heartbreaking 70-68 decision to longtime rival Southern Illinois (9-4) Wednesday night at the Show Me Center.
The 120th meeting between the teams went wire-to-wire.
After SEMO forced a turnover, Harris drained a 3-pointer to cut SIU's lead to 69-68 with 18 seconds left.
The Salukis then split two free throws and the Redhawks had one final chance.
Russell missed a contested layup. Kobe Clark grabbed the offensive rebound and passed the ball to Harris who had a great look from beyond the arc. Harris' 3-pointer came off the rim and the Salukis escaped.
SEMO made a strong push at the end scoring nine of the game's last 13 points.
Both teams had their highs and lows in the first half.
Ahead, 18-16, SEMO went on an 8-0 run to take a double-digit lead as SIU did not score for 3:46. Harris buried a 3-pointer and Aquan Smart followed with a fastbreak layup. Russell added the next four points to increase the Redhawks lead to 26-16 with 8:13 remaining.
SIU later answered with a 12-0 run capitalizing on a cold spell by SEMO.
The Salukis missed 12-of-13 field goals prior to their surge which ended on a go-ahead jumper by Marcus Domask that put SIU ahead, 30-29.
Josh Earley's free throw tied the game before JD Muila's second-chance layup gave the Salukis a 32-30 halftime edge.
SEMO went 0-of-10 from the field in the final 6:26 of the opening stanza.
Harris shot 6-of-13 from the field and buried 5-of-8 threes matching his season-high in points. Russell hit 5-of-16 shots, including three from downtown, while Josh Earley added 11 points off the bench.
SEMO outshot SIU from the field and 3-point range. The Salukis held a 24-11 advantage at the free throw line.
Domask scored a game-high 24 points and made a perfect 8-of-8 free throws. Lance Jones chipped in 14 points for the Salukis.
SIUE 69, SAINT LOUIS 67
ST. LOUIS - SIUE men's basketball erased an 18-point second half deficit to score a signature win, knocking off Saint Louis 69-67 at Chaifetz Arena Wednesday night.
The win is the just the second for SIUE in its series with Saint Louis and the first since December 1982.
The Cougars improved to 9-4, setting a new high water mark for nonconference wins at the Division I level. The 9-4 start is the best for SIUE since the 2005-06 team also started 9-4.
A running layup by Ray'Sean Taylor with 30 seconds to play gave SIUE a 68-67 lead. On the ensuing possession, SLU's Francis Okoro was called for an offensive foul turning the ball back over to SIUE. Taylor was fouled with 12 seconds to play and knocked down both free throws.
The Billikens missed three shots in the waning seconds. Saint Louis was held without a field goal for the game's final 3:10.
Taylor finished with 12 points, including nine in the second half. He was 6 for 8 at the free throw line.
The Cougars and Billikens played tight through much of the first half and SIUE was within one at 21-20 following a Shamar Wright free throw with 5:43 to play before halftime, but the Cougars went cold.
SIUE went 1-14 from the field to finish the first half, while Saint Louis used a 12-2 run to take a 33-22 lead into the break.
The Cougars responded after break going on an 8-0 run with five points from Lamar Wright and a three-pointer from Damarco Minor to cut the lead to 33-30 forcing Saint Louis into a timeout with 17:50 to play in the game.
A 22-7 run by the Billikens gave them a lead of 55-37 with 11:06 to play. From there, the Cougars whittled the lead down until DeeJuan Pruitt tied the game at 66 with a pair of free throws with 1:06 to play. A Yuri Collins free throw made it 67-66 before Taylor put the Cougars on top.
Pruitt finished with a career-high 21 points to lead the Cougars. Pruitt 7 of 13 overall and 6 for 8 at the free throw line.
Lamar Wright scored 13 points, all in the second half. He was 5 for 6 overall and hit all three attempts from three-point range.
Minor added 12 points and Shamar Wright hauled in a career-high 12 rebounds.
SIUE was 13-27 (48 percent) from the field in the second half and 7-10 from three-point range after missing all nine attempts from long range in the first half.
The Cougars turned the ball over just twice in the second half after committing seven in the first. SIUE forced SLU into six second-half turnovers.
Perkins scored 23 points to lead Saint Louis who dipped to 8-5.