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CHARLESTON, Ill. - Facing off against second place UT Martin, the Eastern Illinois Panthers looked to be up to the challenge as the played their final home game honoring senior Billy Parrish before falling 76-60 on Wednesday night.

EIU went into the half down only 5, but UT Martin's 3-point shooting was too much for the Panthers to handle as they built a 12 point lead midway through the second half and pulled away from EIU after leading 29-24 at the break. UT Martin improved to 19-6 (12-3 OVC) while the Panthers fell to 11-15 (8-8 OVC).

The Panthers kept the Skyhawks close throughout the first half, and even held a one point lead with 5 minutes remaining on a lay-up by Dwayne Wright Jr. The second half proved to be the turning point as the Skyhawks outscored the Panthers 47-36 with Marquis Weddle scoring 14 of his team high 25. UTM's bench added 12 points in the game, 10 coming in the second half.

Weddle paced the Skyhawks shooting 5 for 11 from 3-point range as UTM combined to hit 12-of-23 from beyond the arc. The nation's second leading scorer, Lester Hudson, was kept somewhat in track scoring 22 points. Hudson also collected 9 rebounds and had 6 assists.

The Panthers kept pace early behind the hot hand of Romain Martin who knocked down 4-of-9 from 3-point land for a game-high 27 points. Ousmane Cisse did his part by contributing his sixth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Tyler Laser added 8 points for EIU hitting both free throw attempts to move his consecutive free throws made streak to 41.

Eastern Illinois will close out the season on the road playing three games starting with Saturday's ESPNU Bracketbuster contest at Western Michigan. EIU finished the season 9-5 in Lantz Arena. The Panthers will play their first round OVC Tournament game on the road on Tuesday, March 3 at an opponent still to be determined.