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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois had five players score in double figures led by senior
Trae Anderson with 22 as the Panthers ended their regular season with a 85-74 win over Murray State on Thursday night in Lantz Arena.
EIU improved to 13-16 overall, 9-7 in the OVC. The Panthers will play as either the six or seven seed in next week's Ohio Valley Conference Tournament opening Wednesday night in Nashville. Murray State fell to 15-13 overall, 9-6 in the OVC. MSU will close out the regular season Saturday hosting UT Martin.
EIU honored seniors Anderson,
Luke Norman and
Luke Piotrowski prior to the game as EIU posted winning records in the OVC in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 seasons.
While EIU had balanced scoring all night DeMarcus Croaker was a one man show for the Racers to open the game. Croaker scored Murray State's first 17 points opening the game 6-of-7 from the floor. He would end the night with 26 points.
Croaker's 17th point gave MSU a 17-16 lead with 11:04 to play in the first half. EIU went on an 11-2 run to take a 27-19 lead.
Demetrius McReynolds had the final shot in the run as he finished with 16 points and nine rebounds, just missing his fifth double-double this season.
A 3-pointer by
Cornell Johnston pushed the lead to nine with 4:33 to play and EIU led 44-32 at the half on a jumper by
Aboubacar Diallo as time expired.
In the second half EIU was able to hold off the Racers with Murray State's closest run coming with 9:58 to play on a pair of Bryce Jones free throws that ended a 6-0 MSU run. MSU cut EIU's lead to four points at 60-56. Jones flirted with a triple-double in the game finishing with 14 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Following Jones free throws, EIU quickly moved the lead back to double figures with buckets by Anderson and
Patrick Muldoon. The Panthers biggest lead of the game was 16 points when
Joe Kuligoski knocked down a pair of free throws for EIU giving them a 78-62 lead with 2:52 to play.
EIU shot 58 percent on the night with
Casey Teson and Muldoon both finishing with 13 points. Johnston had 11 points and nine assists.
Jeffery Moss was the final MSU player in double figures with 12 points.