Eastern redeemed its 27 points loss on Saturday with a 77-71 overtime win over Southern Illinois Edwardsville Wednesday night in the first round of the Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Basketball Championships at the Ford Center.
Eastern last won a tournament game exactly six years ago against Jacksonville State.
Two senior Panthers truly played like it could be their last time on the court right from the get-go, both scoring 12 in the first half with a cumulative shooting percentage of 56.7%. They were senior guard Zion Fruster and graduate forward Kooper Jacobi.
Fruster led Eastern in points with 23 on 10-of-14 shooting, adding 12 points to his total from Saturday’s game against SIUE.
Jacobi finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, with three of them coming from a three pointer made at the halftime buzzard to give EIU the momentum going into halftime.
Jacobi is the longest tenured Panther on the team.
“It means a lot more, not making it last year, and then this year, making the tournament, it comes with a lot more thankfulness, to even be here. We were just gonna leave it all on the court, like coach always tells us we can make a run,” Jacobi said.
Fruster was also super thankful for the win and said he will remember it for the rest of his life.
Sophomore forward Terry McMorris also showed up big time for the Panthers.
McMorris finished with 15 points and a game high 13 rebounds while shooting a perfect 7-7 from the field.
“Just being me, coach telling me all the time I need to rebound better, and I feel like it’s probably my best rebounding game in conference, listening to the coaches and doing my thing,” McMorris said.
This is the second double-double of the season for McMorris with the first being in the season opener against Valparaiso.
The Panthers shot 12% better from the field tonight compared to Saturday at SIUE, 31-61 for 50% tonight and 18-47 for 38% on Saturday.
The Panthers defensive intensity was high, something head coach Marty Simmons praised in the post game press conference.
“I thought our defensive intensity was better than it has been here recently. We got our hands on some balls and created some opportunities. I think that really gave our guys confidence,” Simmons said.
The Cougars shot 17% worse tonight from the field 23-62 for 37% compared to Saturday shot 31-57%.
“They did a good job of kind of collapsing into the paint,” SIUE head coach Brian Barione said.
Eastern turned SIUE over 12 times.
A run of finding the first half on a 12-4 run helped the Panthers overcome being outscored in the second half 34-25.
SIUE points came from a run soon into the second half, despite EIU having the momentum from Jacobi’s buzzer beater.
To start the final half, the two teams traded baskets for the first three minutes of the second half before SIUE went on a 15-4 run to take a 53-50 lead with 12:39 left, which was their first lead of the game since 3:16 in the first half.
The game headed to overtime, big in part due to SIUE senior center Arnas Sakenis missing two free throws in the final 30 seconds, after going 8-8 from the line beforehand.
Eastern would outscore the Cougars in overtime by six due to its defensive pressure, five points from Jacobi, four points from McMorris and from Sakenis missing two more free throws.
This win marks the first Ohio Valley Conference Championship win for Simmons.
“It means everything. That’s why these guys lift at 6 o’clock in the morning during the off-season, that’s why they are putting all the time and effort in, watching tape, and individual skill development,” Simmons said.
With the win, Eastern advances to the quarterfinals and will face #4 UT Martin.
The Panthers will play UT Martin tonight with tip off set for 6 p.m.
Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at [email protected].
