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Eastern Illinois led for a majority of the first half before a late first half run and hot shooting start in the second half carried Little Rock to a road win, 71-47, over the Panthers on Saturday at Groniger Arena.
 
The Panthers jumped out to a 9-2 lead in the opening minutes with a couple of quick baskets by Corey Sawyer Jr.
 
Rodolfo Bolis put-back basket with 5:45 to play in the first gave EIU a 22-17 lead.  Little Rock then closed the half on a 14-2 run to lead 31-24 at the half.  Sawyer scored EIU's final points of the half breaking what had been an 11-0 run with a basket with 17 seconds left.  He led EIU in scoring for the game with 13 points. 
 
Little Rock continued its good basketball early in the second half hitting eight of their first 11 shots pushing the lead out to 19 points with 14:35 to play on a basket by Jaylen Crocker-Johnson. He finished with a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds while also leading the team with six assists.
 
The Trojans shot 56 percent in the second half with four total players finishing in double figures.
 
Tiger Booker was the final EIU player in double figures with ten points. Jermaine Hamlin came off the bench to pull down a team-high seven rebounds, five on the offensive glass.