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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Both teams struggled shooting the ball from the floor on Saturday night but a distinct rebounding advantage carried SIU Edwardsville to a 72-64 win over Eastern Illinois at Lantz Arena. SIUE held a 46-25 rebound margin including 16 offensive rebounds converted into 18 second chance points.
EIU dropped to 11-15 overall, 7-6 in the OVC. SIUE improved to 5-20 overall, 2-11 in the league.
The Panthers clicked on offense for the first four minutes of the game jumping out to a 12-3 lead as
Casey Teson sank a 3-pointer with 16:09 to play in the first. The Panthers would go cold from there going nearly the next seven minutes without a field goal.
Luke Piotrowski ended the cold snap with a lay-up at 9:17 that gave EIU a 17-16 lead. Piotrowski had nine points for EIU.
SIUE ended the first half with a 9-2 run over the last 3:44 of the half. Devin Thornton opened the run with a 3-pointer while Grant Fiorentinos had two buckets. Fiorentinos finished with 14 points off the bench for the Cougars as SIUE held a 32-25 halftime lead.
Piotrowski sank a pair of free throws with 17:20 to play in the second half that cut the margin to one point at 34-33. Michael Chandler gave the Cougars some breathing room with a three point play following a lay-up by Carlos Anderson pushing the SIUE lead back to six points.
Burak Eslik's 3-pointer with 13:44 to play gave SIUE a ten point lead at 45-35 as Eslik scored 29 points. He was 12-of-12 at the foul line making ten of those in the final five minutes of the game.
EIU was able to trim the lead back to four points on a free throw by
Cornell Johnston with 1:22 to play but the Panthers could never make it a one possession game.
Trae Anderson led EIU with 29 points and eight rebounds. EIU shot 35 percent from the floor.