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Eastern Illinois men's basketball hit a scoring dry spell midway through the first half that they could not overcome as the Panthers lost their first home game this season dropping a 75-67 contest to Western Illinois.
 
EIU falls to 5-9 overall, 1-2 in the OVC.  WIU is now 8-7 overall, 2-2 in the OVC.
 
Trailing by one point at 11-10 with 14:20 to play in the first half following free throws by Zion Fruster, EIU would go scoreless for almost the next five minutes with Artese Stapleton breaking the seal with a 3-pointer with 8:40 to play in the first.
 
During that stretch Western Illinois went on a 14-0 run to lead 25-10 with 9:03 to play on a 3-pointer by Marko Maletic.  It was one of seven 3-pointers Maletic hit on the day going 7-of-10 from 3-point range finishing with 25 points.
 
As a team Western Illinois was hot all game from 3-point land hitting 12-of-20 (60 percent) in the game and shooting 51.9 percent overall for the game.
 
WIU led 37-29 at the half.
 
EIU battled to get back into the game trimming what had ballooned to a 14 point Leathernecks lead early in the second half on another Maletic 3-pointer.
 
The Panthers cut the margin to single digits on a Fruster 3-pointer with 15:33 to play and then to four points on free throws and another basket by Fruster.  He led EIU with 23 points, his second straight 20-plus point scoring game.
 
EIU cut the margin down to four points five more times in the second half with WIU answering each time.  Only one time did EIU make it a one possession game on a lay-up by Rodolfo Bolis with 11:01 left in the game cutting the WIU lead to 51-48.
 
Stapleton joined Fruster in double figures with 12 points while Kooper Jacobi pulled down 12 rebounds.
 
Four WIU players scored in double figures with Ryan Myers (15), Sean Smith (15) and Tay Knox (10).