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CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois trailed by eight points with just over three minutes remaining and had their rally fall just short as Tyler Laser's 3-pointer as time expired bounced off the back rim giving IUPUI (2-0) a 69-66 win over the Panthers (1-1) on Wednesday night at Lantz Arena.

IUPUI led 65-57 following a jumper by Jon Avery with 3:06 left in the contest. EIU would close it to four points with 32 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Shuan Pratl and to three points on a 3-pointer by Curry McKinney with 15 seconds remaining. EIU would foul Leroy Nobles who missed the front end of the one-and-one and McKinney grabbed the rebound to give the Panthers the ball with 13 seconds left. Laser's shot would miss as the buzzer sounded. Laser finished with 14 points.

IUPUI jumped out of the gates in the first half building a 10-2 lead as Billy Pettiford made couple of trips to the free throw line by drawing two quick fouls on EIU big man Ousmane Cisse. IUPUI would build the lead to as many as 11 points in the first half before the Panthers made a late charge. McKinney cut IUPUI's halftime lead to 37-35 with a lay-up.

Edin Suljic would give the Panthers their first lead of the game with 18:24 to play as he hit a jumper in the lane. Alex Young then sparked a 15-3 Jaguars run starting at the 15:43 mark as he hit a jumper followed by a Robert Glenn dunk. IUPUI extended the lead to as many as 12 points before EIU was able to chip away at the margin.

Pratl finished with 14 points for EIU while Suljic added 11. EIU returns to action on Saturday when they host Eureka College at 6 p.m.

IUPUI had four players score in double figures with Nobles scoring 24. Pettiford added 11 with Glenn and Young each scoring 10.