Box Score
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Eastern Illinois completed a weekend sweep of its trips to Murray State and Austin Peay as the Panthers picked up a 76-69 win over the Governors on Saturday night at the Dunn Center.
EIU improved to 9-16 overall, 6-12 in the OVC. APSU fell to 14-10 overall, 10-8 in the OVC.
Eastern Illinois trailed 33-30 at the half despite shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Mack Smith would score 11 of his 22 points in the opening half going 3-of-3 on 3-pointers.
Austin Peay took advantage of 13 first half turnovers by EIU, converting those turnover into 12 points.
In the second half EIU took better care of the ball as EIU had only five second half turnovers while heating up to 60 percent shooting in the second half. The Panthers shot 55 percent for the game.
After trailing for most of the game, EIU took a 52-50 lead with 12:38 left in the game on a
Sammy Friday IV lay-up in transition. Following a dunk by Elton Walker off a missed shot, EIU went on a 5-0 run with
Jordan Skipper-Brown converting free throws and
Henry Abraham draining a 3-pointer in the corner.
Skipper-Brown finished with a double-double for the second straight game finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He had nine of his points in the final 13 minutes.
Smith would connect on his fifth 3-pointer of the game at the 4:09 mark of the second half moving into a tie for 10th on the Ohio Valley Conference career 3-pointers made list. His bucket came after back-to-back jumpers by Terry Taylor that tied the game at 67-67 with 4:33 left in the game.
The Panthers would close the game on a 9-2 run with Smith's 3-pointer, a lay-up by
George Dixon and free throws by Smith and
Marvin Johnson accounting for EIU's points. Mike Peake had Austin Peay's lone basket in the final stanza at the 2:25 mark. APSU was 1-for-8 from the floor to end the game.
Johnson joined Smith and Skipper-Brown in double figures for EIU with 12 points.
Taylor added to his career double-double total with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Peake had 14 points and Reginald Gee added 11 for the Governors.