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Defense led to offense on Thursday night for Eastern Illinois as the Panthers converted 18 Tennessee Tech turnovers into 17 points as the Panthers moved back over .500 in the Ohio Valley Conference with a 68-59 win at Groniger Arena.
 
The Panthers finished with a 17-2 points off turnovers margin as EIU had 12 steals helping lead to those 17 points.  Tiger Booker, the OVC leader in steals per game, added three to his season tally to go along with a game-high 26 points.   EIU helped its own cause by only committing six turnovers in the game.
 
Nakyel Shelton carried the offense in the first half scoring all 12 his points during the opening 20-minutes as EIU led 31-27 at the half.
 
Booker came alive in the second half scoring 24 of his 26 in the final 20-minutes including 8-of-10 from the foul line. EIU would go 12-of-18 from the line in the second half and finish at 16-of-24 for the game.
 
Rodolfo Bolis provided a lift off the bench for the Panthers pulling down 11 of the team's 31 rebounds.  TTU would win the overall battle on the glass by a 33-31 margin with Rodney Johnson Jr hauling in ten.
 
EIU extended its halftime lead out to double figures early in the second as Dan Luers jumper with 17:54 to play put the Panthers up 37-27.
 
TTU would cut the lead down to two on a Johnson lay-up with 15:16 to play and climbed to within one point with 8:18 remaining as Jayvis Harvey drained a 3-pointer to make it 54-53.  Harvey finished with 11 points, one of four Golden Eagles in double figures.
 
EIU responded to the final TTU run with an 11-2 run, Bookers scoring eight of the Panthers points.  Kyndall Davis was the final EIU player in double figures with 12 points as EIU improved to 10-10 on the year, 4-3 in the OVC.
 
Johnson had a double-double for TTU with 13 points to go with his 10 rebounds.  Diante Wood had 12 and Daniel Egbuniwe ten points for the Golden Eagles as they fall to 7-13 overall, 2-5 in the OVC.