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JACKSONVILLE, Ala. – Jacksonville State held Eastern Illinois for nearly six minutes at the end of the game as the Gamecocks (10-11, 6-5 OVC) pulled away late for a 70-55 win over Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon.
EIU fell to 11-11 on the year, 5-7 in the OVC. The Panthers will play at Southeast Missouri next Saturday.
The first half was marked by a series of runs by each team that ended with Jeremy Bynum hitting a 3-pointer with 41 seconds left in the half to give the Gamecocks a 32-29 halftime advantage.
Trenton Marshall, who was held to three points in the previous season meeting in Charleston, caught first early as he drained three 3-pointers. Marshall's outside shooting combined with three free throws by Nick Murphy capped a 14-0 JSU run that put the Gamecocks up 14-2 with 14:54 to go in the first.
Tyler Laser had a good stroke from outside for the Panthers as they responded with a run of their own. Laser knocked down three 3-pointers of his own as he helped EIU answer with a 15-2 run as they took the lead at 20-18 with 8:26 left. The two schools traded the lead with JSU building a five point margin before Zavier Sanders hit a pair of jumpers to tie the game at 29-29.
JSU used a small 4-1 burst out of the locker room as they built a six point lead on a pair of Marshall free throws. Marshall would break out against the Panthers finishing with 25 points hitting 6-of-11 from 3-point range and 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
After falling behind by as many as eight points in the early portion of the second half, EIU closed the gap to 47-46 on a #T.J. Marion# free throw at 10:09. However Laser would pick up his fourth foul and eventually foul out for only the second time in his EIU career at 6:44 mark.
When Laser fouled out with a team-high 20 points, the Panthers were trailing 55-51. JSU would hold the Panthers to only four free throws over the final minutes as they ended with a 15-4 run. The Gamecocks also took advantage of 18 EIU turnovers scoring 26 points off turnovers.
JSU would finish 23-of-32 from the free throw line with Murphy scoring 14 points on 8-of-12 from the stripe.
Curry McKinney added 13 for EIU while Sanders finished with six points and six rebounds off the bench.
