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Eastern Illinois men's basketball had a furious second half rally that came up just short as the Panthers lost on Saturday afternoon to UT Martin 72-68 at Groniger Arena.
 
EIU trailed 41-24 at the half and fell behind by 18 points with 18:34 remaining on a jumper by Tarence Guinyard giving the Skyhawks a 45-27 lead.
 
Zion Fruster scored on the next EIU possession on what triggered a 21-0 run by the Panthers over the next seven minutes.  Kooper Jacobi gave EIU the lead at 46-45 with a jumper in the lane with 12:32 to play and Artese Stapleton capped the 21-0 run with free throws with 11:43 to play and the Panthers in front by three.
 
Afan Trnka scored the next five points for UT Martin to tie the game on a 3-pointer and give the Skyhawks the lead as he scored 18 points.
 
The Panthers continued to battle and led by six points with 5:10 left in the game as Nakyel Shelton drained a 3-pointer giving EIU a 62-56 lead.  Shelton led all scorers in the game with 25 points going 6-of-10 from 3-point range.
 
UTM countered with a 14-2 run over the next four plus minutes and held off the Panthers in the final seconds for the win.  Vladimer Salaridze had a double-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds as UTM improved to 12-15 overall, 8-8 in the OVC.
 
Stapleton scored 16 points and Fruster 13 to round out EIU's double figure scorers as the Panthers are now 8-19 overall, 4-12 in the OVC.