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EASTERN ILLINOIS (7-18, 4-8) vs. Austin Peay (5-20, 1-10)

Feb. 14, 2013  •  7 p.m.
Lantz Arena  •  Charleston, Ill.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM  •  TV: WEIU
Mike Bradd & Jack Ashmore


GAME 26
Eastern Illinois begins the home stretch of the 2013 season with all four remaining Ohio Valley Conference games at home in Lantz Arena.  The Panthers begin that run of games this Thursday hosting Austin Peay at 7 p.m.  EIU will also have home remaining games with Murray State, Belmont and SIU Edwardsville.  The Panthers have two non-conference road games the final week of the year at Northern Illinois for Ramada Bracketbusters and at Chicago State.  EIU split at UT Martin and Southeast Missouri last week in its final OVC road weekend.  EIU is currently tied for 8th place in the OVC Tournament race with a 7-18 overall record, 4-8 in the OVC.  Austin Peay comes into the weekend having lost eight straight games including two in overtime.  APSU is 5-20, 1-10 in the OVC.

AUSTIN WINS FOURTH OVC FRESHMAN AWARD
Guard Alex Austin was named the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week for the fourth time this season following his performance in road games at UT Martin and Southeast Missouri.  Austin scored 16 points in both contests as he finished the week hitting 13-of-18 shots from the floor.  He was 6-of-8 at UTM and 7-of-10 at SEMO.  Austin was 4-of-6 from 3-point range adding three assists, three rebounds and three steals.  He has now scored in double figures in seven games this season and leads all OVC Freshmen in scoring with 8.5 points per game.

ANDERSON CONTRIBUTES AT SEMO
Keenan Anderson came off the bench at Southeast Missouri playing 17 minutes, one shy of his season high.  It was the first time Anderson has played in double figure minutes since Dec. 29 at Tennessee State.  The sophomore forward contributed four points as EIU built a 23-5 advantage in bench points.  Anderson had a season high five rebounds with four coming on the offensive glass.  He added two blocked shots giving him back-to-back games with blocked shots and seven for the season.

UP NEXT
Saturday - February 16 vs. Murray State (6 p.m.)

LAST TIME OUT
Eastern Illinois could not overcome a hot start as Southeast Missouri hit 10 of their first 11 shots on Saturday night racing out to an early lead during a 77-64 win over the Panthers.  EIU shot 55 percent in the second half and outscored SEMO 41-29 in the final 20 minutes but trailed 48-23 at the break.  Alex Austin led EIU with 16 points hitting 7-of-10 from the floor.  Sherman Blanford added 11 points.  EIU committed only eight turnovers in the game.

SCOUTING AUSTIN PEAY
Despite losing eight straight OVC contests Austin Peay has three prolific scorers led by Travis Betran the OVC Newcomer of the Week.  Betran is averaging 17.9 points per game having hit 72-of-164 3-pointers this season.  Anthony Campbell is dangerous from 3-point range as well having made 50-of-132 to average 14 points per game.  Will Trigg rounds out the three man group with 12.2 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.  APSU has turned the ball over an average of 16.2 times per game this season as they are being outscored by six points per game.

SERIES INFORMATION
This will be 38th meeting between Austin Peay and Eastern Illinois.  In the last meeting EIU won for only the third time in the Dunn Center with a 77-67 victory.  The Governors hold a 23-14 series lead including a 22-10 series lead during OVC games.  Prior to the Panthers win in mid-January, APSU had won 13 of the last 14 meetings between the two schools with the EIU win coming on Feb. 25, 2010 in Lantz Arena.  EIU is 10-8 all-time against APSU in Lantz Arena.

IN THE PAINT
• Taylor Jones has been clutch at the free throw line for the Panthers in the last six games as he has now made 19-of-20 including 18 straight makes.  For the season Jones is 22-of-25 (88 percent) and 26-of-29 (89.7 percent) for his career.

• Austin Akers had his third straight game without a turnover as he is now eighth in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.97-to-1.  Akers has now played 131 straight minutes since his last turnover.  That turnover was in the final 1:30 of action of the first half against Southeast Missouri on Jan. 26.

• Sherman Blanford finished with 11 points at Southeast Missouri marking the 10th time in the last 11 games he has scored in double figures.  Blanford currently leads the Panthers in scoring at 10.7 points per game and in rebounding at 6.3 per game.

• Cameron Harvey came off the bench at Southeast Missouri to knock down a 3-pointer for the second straight game.  Harvey has scored in each of the Panthers last three games with his OVC production up to 2.1 points per game.

• Morris Woods had nine points at Southeast Missouri ending a streak of four straight double figure scoring games.  Woods was 4-of-9 from the floor as he ranks 11th in the OVC in field goal percentage at 48.9 percent.  That shooting percentage has climbed in conference action as he is shooting 54.2 percent to rank 7th in the OVC.

• Josh Piper made a 3-pointer at Southeast Missouri after going back-to-back games at SIU Edwardsville and UT Martin without a make from 3-point land.  Piper is 42-of-108 from the season ranking 10th in the OVC in 3-point percentage. 

• Malcolm Herron was held scoreless at Southeast Missouri after 12 points at UT Martin.  Herron has made 11 of his last 20 3-pointers including 4-of-5 at UTM.

PANTHERS SIGN WISCONSIN POST
Eastern Illinois head coach Jay Spoonhour signed Wisconsin post player Jake Verhagen as the first player in the 2013 class.  Verhagen is a 6'6 post at Appleton West HS where he averaged 16 points and 7 rebounds as a junior earning All-Fox Valley League honors.  He is rated the 26th best player in the state.  Verhagen is averaging 12.2 points per game for Appleton West as a senior.

EASTERN ILLINOIS HEAD COACH JAY SPOONHOUR
Jay Spoonhour enters his first season as the Panthers head coach having been hired on April 9, 2012.  Spoonhour was most recently the head coach at Moberly Area Community College where he coached for three seasons.  He is a long time assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level and served as the interim head coach at UNLV to complete the 2004 season posting a 6-4 record and taking the team to the finals of the Mountain West Conference along with an NIT appearance.  In 2001 Spoonhour was named the National Junior College Coach of the Year leading Wabash Valley College to the NJCAA National Championship with a 36-1 record.  He is the son of the late legendary coach Charlie Spoonhour.  Spoonhour played basketball at Pittsburg State earning his degree in 1994.  He was an honorable mention All-Conference selection.  He has assistant coaching stops at Central Missouri, Saint Louis, UNLV, Missouri and Texas San Antonio.  Spoohour's career mark is 113-50, 13-22 at NCAA Division I.

PANTHERS PICKED 5TH IN OVC WEST
Eastern Illinois was picked to finish in 5th place in the Ohio Valley Conference West Division this season.  The Panthers finished 10th last season in the one division format missing the OVC Tournament.  With the addition of Belmont to the OVC this season, the conference will play in two six team divisions.  Murray State was picked to win the West Division followed by Southeast Missouri, Austin Peay, SIU Edwardsville, EIU and UT Martin.  Belmont was selected to win the East Division after winning the Atlantic Sun Conference last year.

OVC GROWS, SPLITS TO DIVISIONS
The Ohio Valley Conference grew to 12 members with the addition of Belmont for the 2012-13 school year.  The OVC will now play in Divisions - East & West for men's and women's basketball.  Each school will play a home & home series within its division and one game against opponents from the opposite division (3 home games, 3 road games).  The two eight schools in the conference based on record will advance to the OVC Tournament in Nashville with the division winners seeded first and second.  SIU Edwardsville is now eligible to play in the OVC Tournament.  Due to NCAA APR penalties, Jacksonville State is not eligible for the OVC Tournament this season.

FATHER, SON COMBINATIONS
Jay Spoonhour and his late father, Charlie Spoonhour, are one of several father/son combinations that have coached in collegiate basketball.  Entering the season the two have combined to win 376 NCAA basketball games, all coming at the Division I level.  Only 17 father/son combinations have ever won 600 or more games with Eddie, Scott and Sean Sutton topping the list with 1,091 wins between the three.  Scott is currently the head coach at Oral Roberts.  Only three father/son combinations have ever won more than 1,000 games at the NCAA level.

OVC DIGITAL NETWORK
Basketball fans can watch each Eastern Illinois home game and all OVC road games for free online this year on the OVC Digital Network streaming platform.  Fans can view games by visiting - www.ovcdigitalnetwork.com