EIU Men, Women, SIUE Men Lose

CHARLESTON, Ill. – Purdue Fort Wayne appeared to not be able to miss from 3-point range during a second half spurt as the Mastodons drained 21 3-pointers during a 104-60 win over Eastern Illinois on Wednesday night at Lantz Arena.

EIU fell to 3-4 on the season.  Purdue Fort Wayne improved to 5-4 on the year.

Leading 41-30 at the half with a 9-of-18 shooting effort from 3-point range, the Mastodons opened the second half making five straight 3-pointers to push the lead to 58-34 with Matt Wier’s 3-pointer with 15:31 to play in the game.

Purdue Fort Wayne would make six of seven from long distance to open the half and 12-of-19 for the half.  They would finish 21-of-37 from 3-point range with six players hitting three or more 3-pointers.  Matt Holba was 5-of-6 from 3-point range finishing with 15 points.

Seven Purdue Fort Wayne would finish in double figures led by John Konchar and Jarred Godfrey each with 16 points.  Konchar added 11 rebounds as the Mastodons finished with a 50-27 advantage on the glass.

EIU held the lead early in the game with Josiah Wallace giving the Panthers their final lead of the game with his lay-up with 7:37 to play in the first.  EIU led 26-25 at that point.  Purdue Fort Wayne then went on a 13-2 run to go up by double digits.

Rade Kukobat was the Panthers leading scorer with 12 points.  Ben Harvey had 11 points off the bench, his second straight double figure scoring game.  Lucas Jones pulled down a team high six rebounds.

Bradley 67, EIU Women 64

PEORIA, Ill. -- Eastern Illinois women's basketball fell in the final minutes at Bradley Wednesday night. Grace Lennox led the Panthers with 18 points, six rebounds, and six steals as EIU lost 67-64 to BU. The Panthers fall to 3-2 overall while the Braves continue their undefeated start at 5-0.

EIU pressured Bradley from the start of the game forcing 15 first half turnovers from the Braves. The Panthers tallied 11 team steals in the first half led bt Lennox with four. EIU finished the game with 15 steals and scored 19 points off BU's 20 total turnovers.

Karle Pace led the Panthers in the first quarter scoring seven of her ten points in the first ten minutes. Bradley did not see their first lead of the game until the nine minute mark in the second quarter. Lennox tied the game at 18-18 with 6:35 left in the half. Jennifer Nehls would make a defensive stop with a minute left leading to a three-pointer from Kira Arthofer to take a 29-27 lead into halftime.

The Braves took their largest lead of the game near the end of the third quarter. Gabi Haack hit back-to-back three-pointers under the two minute mark extending Bradley's lead to 50-42. Haack finished with 23 points. All her field goals game from three-point range and she went 8-for-8 at the arc.

EIU outscored BU 17-16 in the final 10 minutes of play, but the Braves took the 67-64 win over the Panthers.

In addition to Lennox, three other Panthers finished in double-figures for EIU. Taylor Steele scored 13 points and was 5-for-6 at the free throw line. Steele also tallied five boards. Grace McRae added 11 points and eight rebounds, while Pace finished with 10 points. Nehls grabbed a game-high nine boards.

Lasha Petree was the only other Bradley team member to reach double-figures. She added 10 points off the bench. Chelsea Brackmann fell short of a double-double with nine points and nine boards.

The Panthers will continue their road trip with a 4 pm game this Sunday Dec. 2 at Valparaiso.

WIU 83, SIUE 58

MACOMB, Ill. – SIUE shot a season-low 30.3 percent from the field Wednesday, falling to Western Illinois 83-58 at Western Hall.

The Leathernecks opened the game on a 7-0 run and led 11-3 with 14:48 to play in the first. The Cougars never led in the game.

"We have to start the game with more urgency," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "This is the second or third game this season where we have come out sluggish and settling for jump shots. That's something we have to grow from and do better with."

Western Illinois connected on 58 percent (29-50) of its shots and drained a season-high 12 three-pointers in improving to 3-4.

"I give Western a lot of credit," Harris said. "We knew they were a good team coming in. They have had a pretty challenging schedule."

WIU led by 13 at half after a three-pointer by Zion Young just before the buzzer made it 37-24. The Leathernecks stretched the lead to as many as 35 points in the second half.

David McFarland led the Cougars with 12 points on 4-of-11 shooting, including two three-pointers. Christian Ellis scored 10 points and led SIUE with six rebounds. Ellis' 10 points gave him 500 for his SIUE career.

Kobe Webster led Western Illinois with 22 points. He hit four three-pointers. Isaac Johnson scored 20. C.J. Duff and Brandon Gilbeck each scored 10 points. Gilbeck, who came into the game third in the NCAA in blocked shots per game, added nine rebounds and six blocked shots.  

"Gilbeck had us off balance around the rim early," Harris said. "He had five blocks at the half. He made us hesitate."

SIUE returns home to face SIU Carbondale Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

"It's business as usual for us," Harris said. "It's a process. A loss by 25 or a loss by one point is all the same. We have to work on us. We have to work on being better and taking another step forward. We have a great opportunity to do that on Saturday."