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CHARLESTON, Ill. – In a tale of two halves, Western Illinois played better in the second half as they doubled Eastern Illinois output for the final twenty minutes to win 57-45 in the 154th playing of this in-state rivalry game on Wednesday night in Lantz Arena.

EIU took advantage of 11 first half turnovers by WIU to score 16 points off turnovers and take a 27-20 halftime lead.  Trailing by one following a three point play by Adam Link, EIU went on a 5-0 run to go up 11-7 on a jumper by Cameron Harvey.

Austin Akers hit a 3-pointer and Josh Piper a hook shot in the lane as EIU started on a 13-3 run to lead 24-12 with 2:53 left in the half when Sherman Blanford knocked down a jumper in the lane.  WIU closed the half on an 8-3 run to gain some momentum heading into the half. 

A 3-pointer by Josh Piper extended EIU's lead to eight at the 17:34 mark of the second half.  Piper was one of three Panthers with seven points.  Malcolm Herron led EIU with eight.

Jack Houpt hit the first Leathernecks 3-pointer of the night at the 16:52 mark as WIU drained 4-of-5 from beyond the arc in the second half.  Terell Parks jumper in the paint with 10:53 left gave WIU its first lead of the second half as WIU was in the midst of a 13-0 run that saw them lead by a 40-34 margin before the Panthers ended the run on an Akers lay-up.

Parks jumper with 2:30 left pushed WIU's lead to double figures as he finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.  WIU scored its final five points from the free throw line as they were 21-of-34 for the game.  By comparison EIU was only 4-of-8 from the stripe.

Link was 7-of-9 from the free throw line to finish with a game high 15 points.  Ceola Clark added 14 for WIU.

The Panthers fell to 3-7 on the season and will host Toledo on Saturday at 6 p.m. in their final game before final exams.  WIU improved to 6-3 overall and evened the all-time series at 77-77.