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Sandy King)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Eastern Illinois opened up Thursday night's Ohio Valley Tournament game red hot connecting on their first six shots from the field. The Panthers went cold late in the second as EIU's season came to a close with a 73-66 loss to No. 3 Austin Peay at the Ford Center.
EIU finished the year 12-19 overall. APSU improved to 18-13 on the year and will play No. 2 seed Belmont on Friday evening.
The Panthers jumped out to a 20-8 run with
Ray Crossland scoring eight of his ten points in the first 4:04 of the contest.
Mack Smith and
Montell Goodwin would join Crossland in double figures in the first half as the Panthers held a 40-26 halftime lead.
In the second half EIU cooled off from the field as they shot 39 percent from the field including 1-of-8 from 3-point range.
At the same time Zach Glotta caught fire for Austin Peay with his 3-point shooting bringing the Governors back into the game. Glotta was 5-of-6 from 3-point range finishing with 21 points.
Glotta would tie the game at 46-46 with 13:12 to play in the second half. Goodwin responded for the Panthers with a 3-pointer followed by a jumper by
DeVantae' Price as EIU pushed the lead back to five points.
???????Glotta was fouled on a 3-point shot following Price's bucket and sank all three attempts. Dayton Gumm would give Austin Peay its first lead of the game at the 10:21 mark with his 3-pointer. Austin Peay was 8-of-12 from 3-point range in the second half and 11-of-21 for the game.
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Muusa Dama put EIU back in front for the final time with a jumper at the 8:26 mark that put EIU up 53-52. Dama finished with 12 points.
???????Glotta's 3-pointer with 8:05 to play put the Governors in front for the final time. He would be joined in double figures by Averyl Ugba with 21 points and Gumm with 12 points. Terry Taylor pulled down 17 rebounds for APSU as they won the battle on the glass by a 41-34 margin.
Smith scored 20 points to lead EIU. Goodwin finished with 15 points in his final EIU game.