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

EASTERN ILLINOIS (10-20, 5-10) vs. SIU Edwardsville (9-17, 5-10)

March 2, 2013  •  4 p.m.
Lantz Arena  •  Charleston, Ill.
Radio: Hit Mix 88.9 FM  •  TV: WEIU
Mike Bradd & Jack Ashmore

GAME 31
Eastern Illinois will host SIU Edwardsville on Saturday night with both teams attempting to play themselves into this year's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.  A win by EIU and the Panthers would be guaranteed a spot in the field, which would be their first appearance since 2010.  EIU is coming off a pair of non-conference road wins at Northern Illinois and Chicago State to improve to 10-20 overall.  EIU is 5-10 in the OVC after losing on Feb. 20 versus Belmont.  SIU Edwardsville has dropped four straight games with their last win coming at home over Murray State on Feb. 14.  The Cougars lost at Belmont on Wednesday night falling to 9-17 overall, 5-10 in the OVC.

JONES SENIOR NIGHT ON SATURDAY
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.  The final senior is Taylor Jones who has been a four-year member of the EIU program.  Jones has played in all 30 games this season averaging 5.6 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.  Twice he has had a career high of 14 points at Tennessee State and at Austin Peay.  Recently he pulled down a career high eight rebounds in a win at Northern Illinois.  He is currently 4th in OVC only games in 3-point shooting.

OVC TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
Eastern Illinois is attempting to play its way into the OVC Tournament.  A win would lock up at least a number eight seed as the Panthers could finish as high as sixth with a win based on other OVC game outcomes.  EIU could still make the tournament with a loss but would need Tennessee Tech to lose both of its weekend games and UT Martin to lose one weekend contest. 

BLUE OUT LANTZ
The Panthers basketball teams are teaming up with EIU Student Life for a Blue Out Lantz Game this Saturday against SIUE.  All fans are encouraged to wear blue and support the Panthers.

UP NEXT
Wednesday - March 6 @ OVC Tournament (TBA)

LAST TIME OUT
Eastern Illinois held Chicago State to 31 percent shooting as the Panthers held off the Cougars down the stretch to pick up a second straight road win, 58-50 on Tuesday night.  Malcolm Herron scored 14 points off the bench hitting 3-of-5 from 3-point range.  The Panthers shot 6-of-12 from 3-point range for the night and 56 percent from the floor.  Josh Piper was 2-of-2 from 3-point range finishing with ten points while Alex Austin had 14 points.  Sherman Blanford pulled down 12 rebounds.

SCOUTING SIU EDWARDSVILLE
SIU Edwardsville comes into the game with a different line-up than when they played Eastern Illinois in early February.  Gone from the team is leading scorer Jerome Jones and his 16.2 points per game.  The Cougars have lost four straight following a home win over Murray State, a weekend that also saw EIU beat Murray State.  Kris Davis and Mark Yelovich both average in double figures at 11.8 and 11.4 points each.  Yelovich is the team's leading rebounder at 5.9 per game.  SIUE shooting .428 from the field and is being out-rebounded by 2.5 rebounds per game.

SERIES INFORMATION
This will be the 7th meeting between Eastern Illinois and SIU Edwardsville.  The Panthers hold a 4-2 series lead.  SIUE beat EIU in its first meeting this season, 49-45 in Edwardsville.  That win snapped a three-game win streak by the Panthers in the series.  EIU is 3-0 all-time against SIUE in games played at Lantz Arena, the first contest played back in 1973 when both schools were NCAA Division II.

AUSTIN WINS FIFTH OVC FRESHMAN AWARD
Alex Austin won his fifth Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week award last week following his efforts against Belmont and in the win at Northern Illinois.  Austin is currently leading all OVC Freshman in scoring at 9.1 points per game and ranks third on the EIU squad in 3-point shooting at 36 percent.  He has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games. 

IN THE PAINT
• Malcolm Herron had a career high 14 points in the win at Chicago State as he was 5-of-8 from the floor and 3-of-5 from 3-point range.  Herron has made four of his last seven 3-pointers.  He had a career high 10 rebounds recently against Belmont.

• Sherman Blanford pulled down 12 rebounds at Chicago State marking the fifth time this season he has reached double figures.  Blanford is 9th in the OVC in rebounding.  He needs one more rebound to reach 200 for the season.  Blanford has 86 offensive rebounds this season which is the third highest single season total in EIU history.

• Josh Piper had two blocked shots at Chicago State.  The sophomore now has 22 for the season and needs just six more blocks to move into a tie for 9th on the EIU single season list with Jeff Mironcow and Kevin Duckworth.

• Austin Akers had two assists at Chicago State giving the senior guard 110 for the season.  Akers needs 16 assists to tie Johnny Hernandez for 10th on the EIU single season list.  Akers is 16th in the NCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio.

• Cameron Harvey came off the bench to score for the seventh straight game at Chicago State.  Harvey has 21 points in those seven games.  He has played double figure minutes in each of the last three games with 19 minutes at Northern Illinois.

• Eastern Illinois held Chicago State to 30.8 percent shooting on Tuesday night, the lowest percentage for an EIU opponent this year.  It was the second straight game and sixth time this year that EIU has held an opponent under 40 percent shooting.

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 116-52, 16-24 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