Eastern Illinois graduate guard Andre Washington made a three point shot with time expiring in the first half to put the Panthers ahead by one. But they wouldn’t hold that lead for long.
After an 8-0 run that started less than two minutes into the second half, Eastern Kentucky secured a lead they wouldn’t give up, winning 68-59 on Wednesday night at Groninger Arena.
A big cause for the Colonels dominant second half was their increase in winning the rebound battle. They went from having four less rebounds than EIU in the first half to leading the rebound margin by 11 in the second half.
“We gave up a lot of short rolls and skips,” junior guard Meechie White said. “Which led to long rebounds that we didn’t box out and get and led to them getting second opportunity points.”
White and senior guard Zion Fruster led the team in rebounds with five each.
The Panthers have been outrebounded by an average of 11 in their last four games.
“We haven’t rebounded well all year,” head coach Marty Simmons said. “I mean, that’s been a point of emphasis every day of practice. It will be for the remainder of the year.”
EIU did find second half momentum with a 15-5 run that started with 8:47 left in the game, and ended with a 9-0 run that lasted almost two minutes, but that dominance for four minutes and 36 seconds of play wasn’t enough.
One of the Panthers who did stay fairly consistent through both halves was Washington, who played in his first game in 644 days after getting injured at his previous school, Long Island University.
“It definitely feels good to just be back on the court with my teammates,” Washington said. “[I] Still need to get adjusted, get my wind back, but it definitely feels good to be back out there.”
Washington finished the game with 11 points shooting 44.4% from the field, three rebounds and two assists.
“He’s the energizer bunny,” Simmons said. “He loves to play, he loves to compete.”
The other two Eastern Illinois players who scored double digits were White and Fruster, and they both scored more in the second half than the first.
Fruster scored six in the first and finished with 15 shooting 41.7% from the field, and White scored four in the first and finished with 12 shooting 50% from the field.
They both scored four during the 9-0 run, and Fruster scored eight during the total 15-5 run, which reflects the struggles the Panthers had in the beginning of the second half.
“I thought at the beginning of the second half, we missed some shots right at the rim that you got to make,” Simmons said. “I mean we were up at half. You want to maintain that, you want to try to increase it. And we just got to do a better job of finishing and then also just executing our half-court offense.”
Eastern Kentucky outscored Eastern Illinois by 24-9 in the first 10 minutes of the second half and made 24% more of their shots from the field.
Eastern will travel to Iowa State Sunday to play the No. 4 ranked Cyclones at 12 p.m.
Then will return home on Dec. 18 to play Ohio Valley Conference opponent SIUE, and East-West on Dec. 22. After East-West, the Panthers will go into full OVC play.
Simmons said a big focus in the final two non-conference games will be rebounding, and that junior guard Kyle Layton has a chance to be available to play soon.
Layton transferred from Tennessee Tech this year and has not played a game for EIU yet.
Bryce Parker can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
