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RICHMOND, Ky. – After dropping its first nine road games of the season Eastern Illinois has now won back-to-back road games after the Panthers escaped with a 54-53 win on Saturday afternoon at Eastern Kentucky.
EIU improved to 6-9 on the year, 2-2 in the OVC. EIU will host Tennessee State on Thursday night at 6 p.m. with the game televised on CBS Sports Network. Eastern Kentucky fell to 6-11, 0-4 in the OVC.
Dedric Boyd cut what had at one time been a 15 point second lead by Eastern Illinois down to the one point margin, 54-53, with a 12-foot jumper with 32 seconds remaining.
EIU then missed the front end of a one-and-one with 24 second remaining that could have increased the Panthers lead.Â
Ray Crossland then picked up a steal on the next EKU possession. Crossland was fouled but missed the front end of his one-and-one giving EKU one final shot at the basket with 7.1 seconds left.
On the missed free throw EIU pressed the ball as it came up the court and the Colonels had a hurried shot at the buzzer fall short. EIU held the Colonels to 33 percent shooting in the game.
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Muusa Dama scored ten of his 18 points in the first half as EIU was able to take a 29-19 lead. Dama pulled down 13 rebounds to post his tenth career double-double. EIU finished the night with a 40-36 rebound margin as
Jajuan Starks added nine rebounds. Aboubabar Diallo and
Montell Goodwin each had six rebounds.
EIU lead by 15 points on four different occasions in the second half, the last coming on a Goodwin jumper with 11:09 to play. Goodwin had 15 points but was limited to just 1-of-6 on 3-point shooting. EIU was 4-of-14 from behind the arc with
Mack Smith knocking down a pair early in the game.
EKU was able to get back in the game following Goodwin's jumper as the Colonels went on a 10-3 run. DeAndre Dishman scored five points for the Colonels in the run as he was one of two EKU players with 12 points. Nick Mayo added 12 points with nine coming in the second half.Â