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CHARLESTON, Ill. –
LeTrell Viser drained a 3-pointer during a key 14-2 second half run as Eastern Illinois rallied for a 61-54 win over Ball State on Wednesday night in Lantz Arena.
EIU improved to 3-5 on the season winning its second straight. It was the first win over Ball State since January 18, 1966. Ball State fell to 2-3 on the season. EIU returns to action next Tuesday with a game at UC Davis, a 9 pm Central start.
Both teams were cold from the field to start the game with Ball State shooting 28 percent and EIU shooting 25. The Cardinals raced out to a 13-2 lead as EIU's first basket of the game was a
Trae Anderson jumper with 14:47 to play in the first. Anderson would post the Panthers first double-double of the season finishing with 13 points, 11 rebounds.
BSU pushed the lead to 23-13 with 3:09 to play in the first on a lay-up by Jeremie Tyler.
Keenen Anderson and
Trae Anderson scored for EIU down the stretch to cut the lead to 24-18 at the half.
After both teams scored to open the second half EIU went on a 12-0 run with Viser giving EIU its first lead of the game at 14:56. He followed that with another three to put the Panthers up by six points.
Tyler finally stopped the Panthers run with a 3-pointer at the 11:43 mark. Tyler finished with 10 points.
Zavier Turner would spark a short 5-0 run to put Ball State back in front 38-34 with 8:31 to play.
Dylan Chatman hit a 3-pointer followed by a
Trae Anderson jumper that put EIU back in front for good with 7:12 to play.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Chatman and Viser and a jumper by
Trae Anderson gave the Panthers a 51-40 lead with 3:44 left as they closed out the contest.
Viser had nine points hitting 3-of-5 from 3-point range.
Chris Olivier came off the bench to score 16 points with seven rebounds and four blocks.
Cornell Johnston finished with nine points and seven assists.
Turner led all players with 20 points for Ball State as the Cardinals finished the game shooting 30 percent from the floor. EIU shot 61 percent in the second half to finish at 43 percent for the game.