Photo Gallery (by Sandy King)

Eastern Illinois men's basketball got to the free throw line 30 times on Saturday afternoon converting 22 of those attempts as the Panthers collected a 78-72 win over Little Rock at Grongier Arena.
 
Meechie White made six free throws in the final 53 seconds when the game was in the balance as part of his 19 point night.  Zion Fruster converted the final two free throws with a second remaining for the final points as he scored 17.
 
EIU held a 34-30 lead at the half and played in front most of the second half building an 11 point lead with 14:38 to play on a White 3-pointer.  EIU knocked down 6-of-16 from behind the arc.
 
Little Rock slowly worked their way back in the game with four straight points by Braxton Bayless and a 3-pointer by Truman Clayton IV with 10:18 to play to whittle the lead down to five points.  Claytor led the Trojans with 17 points, Bayless added 12 as five Little Rock players scored in double figures.
 
Bayless was a big part of a Trojans 12-3 run midway through the second half with his jumper with 7:18 to play putting the Trojans up four at 60-56.
 
Kooper Jacobi tied the game at 60-60 with 5:57 to play as part of his ten point night as the two schools had four lead changes and three ties over the next four and a half minutes.
 
Terry McMorris gave EIU its final lead with 1:26 to play converting a driving lay-up and EIU went 9-for-10 at the line over the final 90 seconds to earn the win.
 
Nazareth Fisher just missed a double-double for EIU with ten points, nine rebounds as EIU improved to 11-16 overall, 7-9 in the OVC.
 
Kachi Nzeh (13 pts), Johnathan Lawson (12 pts) and Cameron Wallace (10 pts) rounded at the Trojans double figure scorers as they fell to 10-17 overall, 7-9 in the OVC.