Box Score
Box Score
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Eastern Illinois held off a couple of late Southeast Missouri charges on Thursday night as the Panthers escaped the Show Me Center with a 72-70 win.
EIU improved to 15-14 overall, 8-9 in the OVC as the Panthers clinched a spot in this year's OVC Tournament next week in Evansville. SEMO fell to 7-23 overall, 3-14 in the OVC.
EIU led by as many as 12 points late in the first half as the Panthers held the lead for most of the game. The Panthers built a double figure lead on a
Josiah Wallace jumper with 1:23 left in the first half as EIU led 36-26 at the half.
SEMO made several charges early in the second half closing the EIU lead to four points on a couple of occasions. The Redhawks did early damage in the half at the foul line going 14-of-17 from the stripe in the second half.
Shareef Smith connected for a pair of free throws for EIU after SEMO cut the lead to 63-61 with 3:33 to play. Following a lay-up by Sage Tolbert, Wallace answered once again for the Panthers pushing the lead back to four points.
The Redhawks trimmed the lead to one on a 3-pointer by Isaiah Gable with 2:31 left to play. Skyler Hogan gave SEMO its first lead since the early portion of the game with 2:07 left as he converted a fast break. Hogan was one of three SEMO players in double figures finishing with 14 points.
Wallace connected at the line on the Panthers next possession to put EIU back in front. His jumper with 58 seconds left gave the Panthers a 71-68 lead. Wallace scored 29 points reaching the 20-point mark for the seventh straight game.
Marvin Johnson scored 11 off the bench while
Mack Smith hit a pair of 3-pointers to extend his streak of consecutive games with a 3-pointer made to 78 straight games.
Tolbert posted a double-double for SEMO with 16 points and 14 rebounds. Quatarrius Wilson had 19 points.
