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NASHVILLE – Eastern Illinois scored its final 11 points from the free throw line as the Panthers improved to 6-4 on the season with a 63-60 road win at Belmont (7-4) on Saturday night.

The Panthers had three players finish in double figures with Tyler Laser knocking down 14, Jeremy Granger had 13 and Ousmane Cisse finished with 11. Cisse also pulled down ten rebounds to collect his 11th double-double of his career and move into 10th place on the EIU career rebounds list.

Trailing 28-20 at the half, EIU opened the second half with a 12-3 run as Granger connected on three jumpers and Cisse add two low post buckets to tie the game 36-36 with just under 12:30 left.

The two teams traded the lead over the next seven minutes with Cisse hitting a pair of free throws with just over five minutes left to tie the game at 50-50. James Hollowell would put EIU up 52-51 with a runner in the lane at 3:22 and Laser drained a pair of free throws at 3:03 to give EIU a three point lead. The Panthers would extend the lead to as many as six as they won their fifth road contest of the game.

Eastern Illinois built an early lead as Edin Suljic scored eight points in the first ten minutes as EIU built a 9-4 and then led 14-11. Zavier Sanders tied the game at 16-16 before Belmont closed the half with a 12-4 run as they built a 28-20 halftime lead.

Scott Saunders came off the bench to lead Belmont with eight first half points and Drew Hanlen knocked down a pair of 3-pointers for the Bruins in the final 1:30 of the first half.

EIU shot 61 percent in the second half as they finished the game shooting 46 percent. Belmont was limited to just 36 percent shooting for the game including only 26 percent (9-of-34) from 3-point range.

Ian Clark led the Bruins with 13 points while Jordan Campbell added 12.

Eastern Illinois will play one more game prior to the holiday break as they host Franklin College on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Lantz Arena.