SIUE made 7-of-16 shots from 3-point range (43.8 pct) in the opening half as the Cougars led from start to finish to beat Eastern Illinois on Saturday afternoon at First Community Arena.   SIUE picked up a 77-50 win as the two teams split the season series.

Despite the loss, EIU still qualified for the 2026 OVC Tournament and will turn around and face SIUE on Wednesday night in the opening round at 6 pm from the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.

SIUE built a 12-point lead in the first half with 11:01 to play on a 3-pointer by Kyle Thomas.

EIU worked the lead down to five points with 5:09 to play on a lay-up by Terry McMorris.  McMorris had nine points in the game to finish as the Panthers second leading scorer in the game.

In the first half Kooper Jacobi pulled down his 600th career rebound at EIU becoming just the 13th player in program history to hit the 600-rebound milestone.

Zion Fruster led the Panthers in scoring with 11 points.  Freshman Markus Blackwell added nine as EIU finished the regular season at 12-19 overall, 8-12 in the OVC.  The Panthers will play as the No. 8 seed in the OVC Tournament.

SIUE will play as the No. 5 seed in the tournament finishing the regular season at 19-12 overall, 12-8 in the OVC.  The Cougars knocked down 12-of-27 from 3-point range (44.4 pct) for the game.

Arnas Sakenis led SIUE with 16 points followed by Tyler King with 15.