EIU Game Notes  |  Listen Live  |  Live Stats  |  Watch Live - OVC Digital Network  |

EASTERN ILLINOIS (8-19, 5-9) vs. Belmont (20-6, 11-2)

Feb. 20, 2013  •  7 p.m.
Lantz Arena  •  Charleston, Ill.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM  •  TV: WEIU
Mike Bradd & Jack Ashmore


GAME 28
Eastern Illinois hosts Ohio Valley Conference newcomer and East Division leader Belmont on Wednesday night as the Panthers continue to finish up league play at home in Lantz Arena.  EIU will play two non-conference road games at Northern Illinois and Chicago State before hosting SIU Edwardsville on March 2 to end the year.  The Panthers are coming off a win over OVC West Division leader Murray State as four EIU players scored in double figures in the 79-70 victory.  EIU improved to 8-19, 5-9 in the OVC as they are currently in 8th place in the OVC Tournament race.  Belmont has dropped two of its last three OVC games after opening the season with ten straight conference wins.  The Bruins are 20-6 overall, 11-2 in the OVC.  Prior to last week's loss to Tennessee State, Belmont was receiving votes in both Top 25 polls.

BLANFORD DOUBLE-DOUBLE
Sherman Blanford collected his fourth double-double of the year on Saturday in the win over Murray State.  Blanford scored 15 points and pulled down 14 rebounds.  It was the 10th time in the last 12 games that Blanford has scored in double figures as he ranks second on the team at 11.5 points per game.  It was the fourth time this year he has collected double figure rebounds with a high of 16 earlier this year against Southeast Missouri.  Blanford is 9th in the OVC in rebounding at 6.6 per game.  80 of his 178 rebounds are on the offensive glass.

PANTHERS WARMING UP FROM 3-POINT RANGE
Eastern Illinois was 7-of-12 from 3-point range in the win over Murray State as the 58 percent marked the second time in the last four games that EIU has shot over 50 percent from beyond the arc.  Josh Piper, Taylor Jones and Alex Austin have all contributed to that as those three rank 12th, 13th and 14th in the OVC in 3-point shooting percentage.  Piper was 3-of-7 against Murray State and is shooting 38.3 percent.  Jones and Austin both made their one attempt against MSU.  Jones is shooting 37.6 percent and Austin is shooting 37.4 percent.

UP NEXT
Saturday - February 23 at Northern Illinois (3 p.m.) - Ramada Bracketbusters

LAST TIME OUT
Eastern Illinois took the lead late in the first half and held off a late Murray State charge as the Panthers won 79-70 on a night when EIU retired the No. 44 jersey of Henry Domercant and honored its two NCAA Division I Tournament teams.  Alex Austin scored 10 points in the first half as EIU led 31-26.  Sherman Blanford and Morris Woods did the work in the second half as EIU shot 56 percent from the floor.  Woods had 21 points while Blanford posted his fourth double-double of the year with 15 points, 14 rebounds.  Josh Piper added 15 points.

SCOUTING BELMONT
Eastern Illinois hosts OVC East Division leader Belmont on Wednesday night.  The Bruins have lost two of their last three OVC games after opening their first season in the conference with ten straight wins.  Ian Clark is one of the best 3-point shooters in the nation ranking second at 49.1 percent from 3-point range.  Clark averages 18.9 points per game having made 85-of-173 3-point shots.  Kerron Johnson is second on the team with 13.5 points per game and 120 assists.  Trevor Noack rounds out Belmont's double figure scorers at 12.1 points per game.

SERIES INFORMATION
This will be third meeting between Eastern Illinois and Belmont.  The all-time series is tied with both schools winning on the road during an in-season home-and-home series during the 2009-10 season.  Belmont won big at Lantz Arena, 95-62, on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.  EIU won at the Curb Event Center just before Christmas winning 63-60 on Dec. 19.  This is the first meeting as OVC members.

MALCOLM HERRON SENIOR NIGHT
Head coach Jay Spoonhour is doing senior night a little different in his first year as the Panthers head coach.  Eastern Illinois will honor each of its three seniors as individuals during the three last home games of the year.  Malcolm Herron will be honored prior to the men's game against Belmont.  A transfer guard Herron won OVC Newcomer of the Week honors last year following the Panthers road game at Northwestern.  This season he has five double figure scoring games with a high of 13 at UT Martin.  Herron is shooting 36.6 percent from 3-point range after going 2-of-2 in the win over Murray State.

IN THE PAINT
• Alex Austin scored all ten of his points against Murray State in the first half as he now has four straight double figure games.  Austin leads all OVC Freshman in scoring at 9 points per game.  He has made 9 of his last 15 3-pointers (60 percent) and 24 of his last 31 shots (77 percent) in those four contests.

• Morris Woods posted back-to-back 20+ scoring nights against Austin Peay and Murray State.  Woods has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games.  Against Murray State he was 7-of-8 from the floor moving him to 50.7 percent shooting for the season and 56 percent in league play.  Both numbers rank in the top ten in the OVC this season.  Woods now leads EIU in scoring at 13.4 points per game.

•  Austin Akers continues to rank in the top ten in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio as he is 8th heading into the week.  Akers has 27 assists and 4 turnovers in the Panthers last seven games.  EIU is 4-3 in those games.  Akers now has 107 assists on the season ranking 9th in the OVC at 4.0 assists per game.

• Josh Piper returned to double figure scoring with 14 points against Murray State.  Piper was 6-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-7 from 3-point range.  Piper had been held to single digits in four straight games (2/2 to 2/14).  His season high is 28 points.

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 114-51, 14-23 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