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Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois rallied from 11 points down with 7:02 to play on Tuesday night as the Panthers won back the Old Railsplitter Ax with a 78-77 win over in-state rival Western Illinois.
The Panthers had three players score in double figures as they improved to 3-7 overall. Western Illinois fell to 7-3. The Panthers will be back in action on Thursday afternoon with a 1:30 p.m. game against Saint Francis (Ill.).
Dalan Ancrum put Western Illinois up 68-57 with 7:02 to play as the Leathernecks took their first double digit lead of the second half. WIU lead by as many as 12 points in the first half when Kobe Webster finished off a lay-up to give the Leathernecks a 39-27 lead at 3:47.
EIU had a free throw by
D'Angelo Jackson and jumper by
Muusa Dama following Ancrum's bucket to trim the lead to eight points. After a free throw by Charles Gavin, EIU turned the momentum with three straight steals and a pair of easy buckets by
Ray Crossland. Crossland would have two of the three steals in that quick spurt as EIU finished with seven steals.
Crossland's second basket cut WIU's lead to 69-64 with 4:05 to play. Jackson and
Montell Goodwin then took the Panthers offensive game into their own hands. Jackson hit a free throw and 3-pointer while Goodwin's jumper with 1:48 to play gave the Panthers a 74-73 lead.
Webster answered for Western Illinois as part of his team high 16 points for WIU. Jackson hit a jumper with 57 seconds left and the Panthers defense forced a turnover on the next Leathernecks possession. Goodwin sank a pair of free throws to make it a three point game. WIU would score a lay-up with three seconds left to cut EIU's winning margin to one point.
Goodwin had a team high 23 points for EIU while Jackson added 19. The Panthers were 19-of-28 from the foul line. Dama added a career high 21 points with 16 points in the first half as the Panthers trailed 43-36 at the break.
Western Illinois finished the night shooting 54.9 percent from the floor as the Leathernecks entered the night ranked ninth in the NCAA in field goal percentage. Ancrum had 14 points while Jeremiah Usiosefe and C.J. Duff each finished with 11. Delo Bruster rounded out the Western Illinois double figure scorers with ten points.