Photo Gallery (by
Sandy King)
CHARLESTON, Ill.- SIUE posted a 50-28 advantage on the glass on Thursday night as the Cougars beat Eastern Illinois, 66-53, in a game televised on ESPNU.
SIUE improved to 7-8 overall, 1-1 in the OVC. EIU fell to 2-13 overall, 0-2 in the OVC.
The Cougars converted that rebounding edge into 36 points in the paint as DeeJuan Pruitt pulled down 15 rebounds for the Cougars.
After a slow start offensively for the Panthers, EIU cut the SIUE lead down to two points with 5:48 remaining in the first half as
Paul Bizimana scored four straight points for the Panthers. Bizimana finished with nine points to tie
CJ Lane as the Panthers top scorer in the game.
SIUE pushed its lead back to six points in the closing minutes of the first half before EIU closed on a 6-2 run to trail 31-29 at the half.
Rodolfo Bolis scored with one second left in the half to cap the EIU run. Bolis had eight points and six rebounds.
The Panthers would tie the game at 31-31 to open the second half on bucket by
Micah Schnyders. SIUE countered with a 7-0 run finished with a 3-pointer by Shaun Doss Jr. Doss had 17 points to lead SIUE, one of two Cougars in double figures.
Lane's basket with 8:41 left in the game brought EIU to within four points, the closest EIU would get the remainder of the game. A 10-0 run by SIUE over the next four minutes ended EIU's comeback.
Shamar Wright had 12 points to join Doss in double figures for SIUE.