Northern Iowa Falls To Evansville, Illinois At Ohio State

Evansville, IN (SportsNetwork.com) - D.J. Balentine scored 17 points to lead Evansville to a 52-49 win over No. 23 Northern Iowa on Thursday. Egidijus Mockevicius supplied 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Purple Aces (11-2, 1-0 MVC), who won their fourth straight game in their Missouri Valley Conference opener. Seth Tuttle had 18 points to lead the Panthers (11-2, 0-1) and Wes Washpun added 11 off the bench in the loss.

SIUE Win OVC Opener

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE men's basketball led wire-to-wire Thursday as it opened the Ohio Valley Conference season with a 73-57 win over Jacksonville State at Vadalabene Center.

The Cougars have won four in a row and improve to 5-7 for the season. It is the first time SIUE has opened the OVC season with a win since the 2011-12 campaign. Jacksonville State has lost four in a row and is 7-8 overall and 0-1 in the OVC.

SIUE has limited each of its four opponents to fewer than 60 points during the winning streak, which is the longest-ever for the Cougars at the Division I level. The Cougars held the Gamecocks to just 33.9 percent (20-59) shooting and outrebounded Jacksonville State 37-32 for the game.

EIU Men Win Fourth Straight

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois overcame a four point deficit in the final 17 seconds as the Panthers won their fourth straight with a 61-59 win over Tennessee Tech on Thursday afternoon during the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams at Lantz Arena.
 
EIU improved to 7-6 on the year, 1-0 in the OVC. The Panthers will host Jacksonville State on Saturday at 3:15 p.m. TTU fell to 8-6 overall, 0-1 in the OVC.
 
Tennessee Tech built a four point lead with 17 seconds remaining as Charles Jackson converted a pair of free throws.  Dwan Caldwell had given the Golden Eagles a lead with 55 seconds to play and Jackson made one of two at the line with 41 seconds to play.
 
Reggie Smith made it a one point game as he sank a 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play making it a 59-58 TTU lead.  LeTrell Viser then tipped the inbound pass off of Caldwell in the corner giving EIU possession with eight seconds to play.
 
Chris Olivier tied the game making one of two at the free throw line with five seconds to play.   Dylan Chatman pulled down the offensive rebound on the second Olivier free throw and was fouled with 1.9 seconds to play.  Chatman made both free throws and Josiah Moore had a desperation 3-pointer as time expired that fell short.
 
Olivier led all players with 22 points making 8-of-11 from the field.  Smith and Viser both had 11 points for the Panthers.

EIU Women End Six-Game Losing Skid

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois women’s basketball ended a six-game losing skid this season and opened the new year with a 67-59 win over Tennessee Tech in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both teams on Thursday afternoon in Lantz Arena.
 
EIU improved to 4-10 overall, 1-0 in the OVC.  It marked the ninth straight year that EIU has opened the OVC season with a win. The Panthers host Jacksonville State on Saturday at 1 p.m. TTU fell to 3-11 overall, 0-1 in the OVC.
 
After opening the with a 1-of-18 effort last Sunday against Saint Louis, EIU made four of its first seven shots to open the game with a 9-0 run. After TTU responded with a 7-0 run to cut the game to 9-7 with 15:07 to play, Arnisha Thomas started a 10-0 run for the Panthers. Thomas scored ten of her 15 points in the first half.

Illinois At Ohio State

(Columbus, OH) -- The Fighting Illini are at Ohio State tomorrow to play the Buckeyes. Tipoff from Value City Arena is at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Illinois is 10-4 and 0-1 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes are 11-3 and 0-1.

In other local college basketball action, Northern Illinois hosts UC Riverside tonight. Saturday, Notre Dame hosts Georgia Tech, and Northwestern hosts Wisconsin Sunday.

Thursday, January 1 Scoreboard

NCAA Top-25 Men's Basketball  ("USA Today" Rankings)

Evansville Purple Aces 52, #23 Northern Iowa Panthers 49

Friday, January 2 Schedule (All Times Central)

NCAA Top-25 Men's Basketball

9:00 p.m. - #12 Utah Utes host USC Trojans

9:00 p.m. - #19 Washington Huskies at California Golden Bears