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EASTERN ILLINOIS (17-14, 9-9 OVC) vs. Austin Peay (20-11, 14-4 OVC)
Thursday, March 4 •  8:30 pm 
Evansville, Ind.  •  Ford Center
OVC Tournament Central

EIU OVC TOURNAMENT NOTE PACKET: PDF File
RADIO: Hit Mix 88.9 FM
TV: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: www.ovcsports.com
SERIES RECORD: APSU leads 34-19
LAST MEETING: @EIU 83, APSU 80 (ot) on February 22, 2020

GAME 32
Eastern Illinois won its opening round Ohio Valley Conference Tournament game for the second time in three years with a 67-61 win on Wednesday night over Jacksonville State.  EIU will face No. 3 seed Austin Peay on Thursday.  APSU leads the all-time series 34-19 with EIU winning the last contest, 83-80 in overtime just two weeks ago.  EIU and APSU will be meeting for the fifth time in the OVC Tournament with a 2-2 record in those meetings.  APSU beat EIU 73-66 two years ago in the quarterfinals of the OVC Tournament at the Ford Center. 

EIU QUICK HITTERS
• Mack Smith hit three 3-pointers extending his consecutive games with a made 3-pointer streak to 80 games, second longest in NCAA Division I history.  Smith moved into third on the EIU career 3-pointers made list (213) and tied for ninth on the EIU single season list.

• JaQualis Matlock had four blocks in the win over Jacksonville State on Wednesday as he moved into a tie for seventh on the EIU single season blocks list with 39.  It was his fifth game this season with three or more blocks.  

• Josiah Wallace scored 25 points against Jacksonville State as the junior cracked the 20-point mark for the seventh time in the last eight games.  Wallace now has 985 career points as he looks to become the 41st EIU player to reach the 1,000 point mark.  He would become just the third Panther to score 1,000 in two seasons joining Jon Collins and John Milholland.  Wallace would join Mack Smith in the 1,000 point club.  The last time EIU had two players pass 1,000 points in the same season was 1995 with Louis Jordan and Derrick Landrus.

• George Dixon pulled down seven rebounds on Wednesday night to give him 269 on the season.  Dixon needs two more rebounds to crack the EIU single season top ten and he would become the first player to do so since Kevin Duckworth in 1986.  Dixon has ten double-doubles this season, the most for an EIU player since Duckworth had 16 during the 1986 campaign.

• Kashawn Charles scored ten points in the first half finishing with 12 in the win over Jacksonville State. It was the second straight game that Charles has scored in double figures off the bench.  He has seven double figure scoring games this season.