Illinois Comeback Falls Short in Loss to Penn State, College Roundup

The Fighting Illini nearly erased a 22-point second half deficit before falling on the road to Penn State, 71-67, on Saturday.

Malcolm Hill led Illinois with 19 points, six rebounds and seven assists, while Jalen Coleman-Lands added 13 points for the Orange and Blue.

Shep Garner scored 18 points, Payton Banks added 17 and Penn State for the Nittany Lions, who held on after leading by 20 at halftime. The win snapped a 3-game losing skid for the Nittany Lions. Penn State (12-10, 4-5 Big Ten) led for all but 1:15 and took control early with pinpoint shooting.

The Nittany Lions made 60 percent of their first half shots and Garner hit the first of his team's nine 3-pointers on his first attempt of the game. Meanwhile, the Illini (13-9, 3-6) endured two scoreless stretches in the first 20 minutes totaling 6:44 while the Nittany Lions dropped in 20 points in that span to build a 45-25 halftime lead.

The Illini battled back and Coleman-Lands cut the lead to 65-62 with a 3-pointer with 1:58 left but Garner hit four free throws in the final 38 seconds to keep it out of reach and keep Illinois winless on the road this season (0-5).

"I didn't like our disposition at all in the first half," Illinois coach John Groce said. "I thought it was unacceptable. Just didn't think we were really good. We could be here for 30 minutes picking on a variety of areas in the first half."

Illinois returns home for their next two games – Tuesday against No. 15 Wisconsin and Saturday against Minnesota. The Illini are 10-2 at State Farm Center this season.

EIU 75, SIUE 60

Terrell Lewis became just the 11th player in Eastern Illinois history to hit seven or more 3-pointers in a game on Saturday afternoon as the junior went 8-of-12 from beyond the arc to pace Eastern Illinois to a 75-60 win over SIU Edwardsville in Lantz Arena.
 
The win moved EIU to 10-12 overall, 2-7 in the OVC as they head to Tennessee State on Thursday night for a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Net.  SIUE dropped to 5-18 overall, 0-9 in the OVC.
 
Lewis made 6-of-9 from beyond the arc in the first half as the Panthers moved out to a 41-32 lead over the Cougars.  Lewis hit two of his 3-pointers during a 14-6 run midway through the second half that opened the Panthers lead from eight points to 16 points as Muusa Dama converted a pair of free throws with 3:24 left in the half.  EIU led 36-20 at the point.    SIUE would get the lead back to single digits just before half as Burak Eslik hit a pair of free throws with ten seconds left in the half.
 
In the second half Lewis contributed in other ways as he quickly pushed the Panthers lead back to out to double figures on two occasions assisting on baskets by Demetrius McReynolds and Ray Crossland.  Crossland’s basket with 16:07 left in the game gave the Panthers a 46-35 lead.
 
Crossland pulled down a defensive rebound on the next SIUE possession, a missed jumper by Eslik.  Patrick Muldoon made a free throw and Lewis drained a 3-pointer with 14:21 remaining as SIUE never got closer than 11 points the remainder of the game.  Crossland posted his first career double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Lewis finished with 24 points and eight assists.  McReynolds rounded out the EIU double figure scorers with 16 points.  The last EIU player to hit seven or more 3-pointers in a game was Romain Martin with eight on Feb. 28, 2009 at Tennessee State.
 
SIUE closed the Panthers lead to 11 points with 6:22 to play on a lay-up by Christian Ellis that made it 65-54.  EIU quickly extended the lead to as high as 19 points on a Crossland jumper with 1:45 to play.  The Cougars closed out with two baskets for the final margin.
 
Jalen Henry and Keenan Simmons both finished in double figures in the low block for SIUE as they held a 26-16 points in the paint advantage.  Henry had 16 points and Simmons 12.

SIUE 75, EIU Women 59

It was a tale of two halves Saturday afternoon as SIU Edwardsville utilized a big second half performance to pull away from the Eastern Illinois women's basketball team and win 75-59.

SIUE shot 63 percent in the second half to improve to 9-13 overall and 5-4 in the OVC while the Panthers fell to 7-14 on the year and 3-6 in the conference.

Erica Brown finished the game recording her third-straight double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

It was a back-and-forth battle throughout the first half as neither team could gain the upper hand. A last second layup from Brittin Boyer sent EIU into the locker room trailing SIUE 29-28 at halftime. The first half saw five ties and seven lead changes.

The Panthers closed out the first half shooting 53.8 percent from the floor compared to 40 percent from SIUE. Grace Lennox scored 10 of her 17 points in the first half as the junior recorded her 10th straight game in double figures.

The Cougars came out firing to open the second half going on a 6-0 run to earn a 35-28 lead with 8:24 to go in the third period. Brown eventually halted the SIUE run with four points of her own to make it 35-32 at the 7:08 mark, but the Cougars would pull away thanks to an 11-2 run capped off by a layup from Gwen Adams.

EIU went on to score the final six points of the third period to send the game into the fourth quarter with the Panthers trailing 48-41.

SIUE gained the hot hand in the final period pushing their lead to as high as 17 points following a free throw from Amri Wilder at the 2:06 mark to make it 71-54. The Cougars shot 71 percent from the floor in the fourth quarter out-scoring EIU 27-18 to earn the 75-59 decision. The Panthers finished the second half shooting only 33 percent.

The Cougars had four players finish in double-figures led by Lauren White and Micah Jones with 15 points each. SIUE out-rebounded EIU 38-28 scoring 42 points in the paint compared to 24 points for the Panthers.

Boyer finished the game with eight points along with Jennifer Nehls while Danielle Berry set a new career high with six points sinking EIU's only three-pointers of the game.

The Panthers will now head to Tennessee State to take on the Tigers Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.