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Box Score  |  Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Eastern Illinois jumped out to a 12-2 lead on Monday evening and the Panthers never looked back as they rolled to their second straight home win with a 114-61 win over Indiana Northwest at Lantz Arena.
 
EIU improved to 2-2 on the season while IU Northwest is 3-2.  The 114 points are the seventh most in school history and the most scored in a game by the Panthers since Jan. 30, 1988 against Northern Iowa (126-121 loss in 4 overtimes).
 
Mack Smith drained a couple of early 3-pointers as he scored a team-high 17 points knocking down 3-of-5 from 3-point range and 6-of-9 from the field.  Smith was one of seven Panthers in double figures as EIU had balanced scoring in a blowout win for the second straight game.
 
George Dixon  and Marvin Johnson both added 16 points with Dixon just missing a double-double with nine rebounds.   EIU pulled out to a 56-31 halftime lead after shooting 51 percent from the floor.
 
The Panthers warmed up even more in the second half shooting 62 percent as they were 56 percent from the floor on the evening.  Jordan Skipper-Brown had ten of his 15 points in the first-half. 
 
Josiah Wallace, Dondre Duffus and Kashawn Charles came on in the second half to each finish in double figures. 
 
In addition to another solid offensive night, the Panthers defense once again turned up the pressure forcing double figure steals for the second straight game.  Deang Deang had five steals as EIU finished with 14 as a team.  EIU scored 29 points off of RedHawks turnovers.  Deang also added a team-high eight assists.
 
Indiana Northwest had two players finish in double figures as Chris Robinson came off the bench to score 17 points on 7-of-10 shooting.  Jason Peace added 16 as the RedHawks shot 34 percent for the night including 4-of-21 from 3-point range for 19 percent.