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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Belmont opened the second half making seven straight 3-pointers. Eastern Illinois could not get a 3-pointer to fall during a big run late in the second half as Belmont remained undefeated in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 77-64 win over EIU on Wednesday night in Lantz Arena.
Belmont won its tenth straight game improving to 14-4 overall, 8-0 in the OVC. EIU lost its fifth straight game falling to 9-12 overall, 1-7 in the OVC. The Panthers will host SIU Edwardsville on Saturday at 3:15 p.m.
Leading 32-28 at the half Belmont made seven straight 3-point attempts to open the second half as the Bruins pulled out to a 57-44 lead with 11:51 remaining as Nick Smith hit a 3-pointer and completed the four point play at the line. Taylor Barnette made three of the 3-pointers in the run while Amanze Egekeze and Smith each dropped in two.
The Panthers remained in the game getting low post baskets by
Demetrius McReynolds and
Muusa Dama. McReynolds scored 18 of his team high 20 points in the second half. Dama finished the game with 12 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks. The four blocks moved him into second on the EIU single season blocks chart as he passed former EIU standout Kevin Duckworth.
Dama also did a solid job guarding the OVC Player of the Year Evan Bradds in the low post. Bradds finished with 23 points but was 8-of-21 in the post with Dama holding him to 7-of-20 when matching up against him on the floor. Bradds has been among the nation's best shooters the last couple of years hovering around 63 to 65 percent from the floor for the year.
With Bradds drawing the defensive assignment from Dama, Belmont turned to Barnette as he sank a pair of free throws and added a jumper from the top of the key to push Belmont's lead to 64-48 with 9:41 left in the game. Barnette finished with 15 points.
Ray Crossland answered with a jumper with 9:09 to play and EIU cut the Belmont lead down to seven points on a free throw by McReynolds with 6:52 to play. The Panthers made a defensive stand following the McReynolds free throw but missed a pair of 3-pointers that would have cut the lead to four points. Austin Luke drove the lane on the other end of the floor and converted two free throws. He then hit a jumper at 5:35 to give Belmont a double digit lead. Luke had nine points to go with nine rebounds.
EIU would get the lead under ten points just one more time in the game. Belmont finished the game shooting 58 percent from 3-point range (11-of-19) and 84 percent from the free throw line (16-of-19). Egekeze finished with 13 points.
EIU was only 2-of-16 from 3-point range on the night.
Terrell Lewis was the third EIU player in double figures with ten points.