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CHARLESTON, Ill. – L.C. Doss drained the first of his five 3-pointers on the night with 14:58 to play in the first half giving Eastern Illinois a lead it would never relinquish as the Panthers won their third straight game with a 68-55 win over UT Martin on Thursday night.

EIU improved to 9-6 overall, 2-1 in the OVC and 6-1 at home in Lantz Arena.  UT Martin lost its seventh straight game falling to 3-16, 0-6 in the OVC.

Doss would hit his first three 4-pointers in a row scoring 14 of his game high 19 points in the opening half.  EIU shot 63 percent from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes to build a 32-19 half time lead.  Jeremy Granger knocked down the other triple as EIU was 5-8 in the first half while UT Martin was 0-7 from 3-point range to open the game.

The Panthers shot 52 percent in the first half from the floor and finished the game shooting 50 percent against a UT Martin team that allows opponents to shoot 51.8 percent from the floor for the season.  UT Martin was able to stay in the game scoring 14 points off 11 EIU first half turnovers.

EIU added to its lead to open the second half extending the margin to 39-21 as Granger knocked down his second 3-pointer of the night.  The senior would finish with 12 points and five assists. 

The Skyhawks were able to cut the deficit to 11 points on two occasions with the last coming on a Troy King dunk following a steal at mid-court with 10:02 left.  King scored ten points to join Myles Taylor (18) and Mike Liabo (13) in double figures for UTM.  Taylor did most of his damage at the free throw line as the freshman was 8-of-10 from the stripe.

Zavier Sanders and Alfonzo McKinnie each pulled down nine rebounds as EIU dominated play on the glass with a 38-22 rebound margin.  McKinnie just missed a double-double with nine points.  Joey Miller was the third EIU player in double figures with 11 points. 

EIU entered the game as the nation's fifth best free throw shooting team but had an off night finishing at 64 percent making 11-of-17.

The Panthers have now matched their win total from last season and return to action on Saturday with an OVC contest at Southeast Missouri.  Tip time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Cape Girardeau.