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CHARLESTON, Ill. – On a night when Eastern Illinois celebrated 100 years of men's basketball, this year's Panther team won its seventh straight game as EIU rolled into the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament with a 66-61 win over Tennessee State. The win locked up a home playoff game in the OVC Tournament which starts on Tuesday.
EIU improved to 18-11 overall and finished the season at 11-7 in the OVC. The Panthers will play as the No. 4 seed facing Eastern Kentucky at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night. Tennessee State wrapped up the regular season at 9-22, 6-12 in the OVC. They will play at No. 1 seed Murray State on Tuesday.
The Panthers shot 52 percent from the field but a poor night at the free throw line (8-of-18) and 15 turnovers allowed the Tigers to stay in the contest.
EIU built at 30-24 halftime lead as senior #T.J. Marion# scored six first half points. With the score tied at 20-20 with 5:05 left in the first half, EIU closed with a 10-4 run with Marion scoring one bucket and fellow senior Jay Smith adding a 3-pointer to open the run. Marion and Smith were two of the five EIU seniors recognized prior to the start of the contest. Also honored were Dewayne Wright Jr., Edin Suljic and Ousmane Cisse.
The Panthers continue to play solid offense to open the second as they appeared poised to pull away for a big win. Cisse's tip in with 17:51 gave the Panthers a double figure lead while Marion's driving lay-up extended the advantage to 13 points.
TSU would come roaring back behind the solid play of Robert Covington who scored eight of ten points as the Tigers tied the game 41-41 with 12:58 remaining. TSU would take the lead on a Covington 3-pointer with 9:44 left as he finished with 18 points. Jacquan Nobles added 19 to lead TSU.
EIU would regain the lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Smith before Jeremiah Crutcher tied the game with a jumper at 1:32. EIU would score the final five points of regulation to extend the school's longest winning streak as an NCAA Division I program.
Jeremy Granger was the lone EIU player in double figures with 11 points. Smith added 9 while James Hollowell had 11 rebounds
