SUNDAY'S SCORES
@Eastern Illinois 87, Blackburn College 66
@Southeast Missouri 87, Lindsey Wilson 59
EASTERN ILLINOIS 87, BLACKBURN COLLEGE 66
CHARLESTON, Ill. - It took a little longer than maybe expected for Eastern Illinois to shake Division III member Blackburn College on Sunday afternoon, but the Panthers used a key 10-0 run midway through the second half to pull away for a 87-66 win at Groniger Arena.
EIU led by seven at the half 40-33 but Blackburn was able to hang around for the early part of the second half tying the game at 43-43 with 16:12 to play on free throws by Darius Duff. Blackburn would take the lead at 52-50 with 12:46 left in the contest on a jumper by Odis Grissom.
The Panthers responded with a quick spurt to go up six as defense turned to offense with two steals by Nakyel Shelton and Jaylin Gibson to go with a pair of blocks by Kyndall Davis.
Blackburn cut the margin to three with 9:07 to play on a 3-pointer by Cayden Paquette, one of four Beavers in double figures. Paquette had 11 points. Duff and Zach Kelsey led Blackburn with 14 each.
Gibson then triggered what turned into a 10-0 EIU run with a 3-pointer followed by a pair of Corey Sawyer Jr baskets. The run ended on a 3-pointer by Davis that gave the Panthers a comfortable margin they would never relinquish.
EIU shot 72.4 percent from the floor in the second half and 59.4 percent for the game. Sawyer led four EIU players in double figures with 18 points.
Tiger Booker had 16 points, Davis 15 and Shelton 14 for EIU. Kooper Jacobi pulled down ten rebounds as Blackburn actually won the battle on the glass with a 32-31 rebound advantage.
SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 87, LINDSEY WILSON 59
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Aquan Smart scored 18 points, pulled down seven rebounds and had five assists to lead Southeast Missouri (4-7) to its fourth-straight home win with an 87-59 victory over Lindsey Wilson College (6-6) Sunday.
SEMO improved its home record to 4-1 this season behind Smart's strong effort.
The Redhawks made four of their first five 3-pointers of the game and led for over 18 minutes in the first half en route to getting a double-digit lead.
Ahead, 13-10, the Redhawks went on a 7-0 run to go up 10. BJ Ward made a jumper and Mason Hanback scored a layup before Braxton Stacker buried a three to give SEMO a 20-10 advantage with 9:18 remaining in the first half.
TJ Biel's second-chance layup pushed SEMO's margin to 14 points and LWC answered with a 6-0 run in a quick 1:05 to get within eight (28-20).
Rob Martin's jumper ended a stretch of 4:05 where SEMO didn't score. Ward later closed out the half by splashing in a shot off an in-bounds pass from Smart to grab the Redhawks a 37-26 lead at the intermission.
Shortly after Connor Robinson's layup pulled the Blue Raiders within nine, SEMO used a 13-0 run to blow the game open.
Smart's made free throw was followed by a 3-pointer by Martin to get things going. On the Redhawks next possession, Smart drove the lane and threw down a monsterous one-handed dunk. Smart had six points to key the surge that ended with a hook shot by Josh Earley as SEMO increased its lead to 52-30 with 14:18 to go.
SEMO's lead didn't dip below double figures the rest of the way.
The Redhawks made their last nine field goals of the game and took their largest lead on the final basket, a Marqueas Bell basket off a turnover. Gavyn Elkamil knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers off the bench prior to Bell's layup.
Smart shot 5-of-10 from the field and 7-of-9 at the free throw line en route to his fifth double-digit scoring game in a row.
Stacker and Martin followed with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Stacker posted double figures in the scoring column for the first time as a Redhawk and Martin collected 10 or more points for the fifth time in six starts.
SEMO shot 56.1 percent (32-of-57) from the floor and 52.6 percent (10-of-19) from downtown. The 3-point percentage is a season-best for the Redhawks.
The Redhawks also assisted on 20 of their 32 made field goals and scored 50 second-half points.
Dylan Branson, who missed the first 10 games of the season due to a foot injury, made his return against the Blue Raiders. Branson had two points, four rebounds and four assists in 14 minutes off the bench.