SIUE Rolls Over Eastern Illinois In Men's Basketball

"It's nice to get one on the road tonight," SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. "That's a road win in the Ohio Valley Conference that's what that is."

The Cougars have won now won three consecutive games and six of their last seven to improve to 13-5. SIUE has won three straight games over Eastern Illinois and three straight road games in the series.

The Cougars are in sole possession of first place in the Ohio Valley Conference at 4-1.

"You want to continue to stack wins," Barone said. "But it's nice to see your name at the top of the standings."

DeeJuan Pruitt picked up his sixth career double-double to lead the Cougars. He poured in a career-high 24 points while grabbing tying his season-best with 13 rebounds.

Pruitt was 7-8 from the field, including going 3-3 from three-point range.

"He came out with such aggressiveness," Barone said. "It was a little nasty in the first half. DeeJuan put us in position to go into halftime with a lead. He made some decisions that showed a high basketball IQ tonight. I am proud of him for that."

Both teams led in a back-and-forth first half. The Panthers jumped out to an 8-2 lead just two minutes into the game. A 10-2 run SIUE run put the Cougars on top for the first time.

Damarco Minor earned a trip to the free throw line with 4:23 left and buried the first of two shots, making his 47th consecutive free throw to set a new OVC record. Minor missed his second shot, marking his first missed free throw since the fourth game of the season.

Eastern Illinois led 31-30 with 1:55 to play, but the Cougars ran off the final five points to take a 36-31 advantage into the break.

The Cougars used six first-half three-pointers to help them to the halftime advantage.

SIUE built its first double-digit lead early in the second half when three-pointers on consecutive possessions from Shamar Wright made it 48-37 with 14:48 to play. The

Cougars maintained the double-digit lead from that point forward.

Shamar Wright scored 14 points. He was 5-11 overall and 4-5 from long distance.

"We may take him for granted sometimes because of the kind of guy he is and how versatile he is," Barone said. "The two baseline-out of bounds plays where he knocked down two threes on back-to-back plays really gave us a buffer."

Eastern Illinois had pulled within 11 when Minor was fouled with 9:34 to play. EIU Head Coach Marty Simmons argued to the official and was given a technical foul. Minor proceeded to hit all four free throws to push the Cougar lead to 61-46. Minor finished the game with 12 points and was 7-8 at the free throw line.

The Cougars lead swelled to as many as 20 (80-60) following another three-pointer from Shamar Wright with 1:55 to play.

Ray'Sean Taylor scored 11 points for the Cougars while adding a game-high and season-best six assists.

"Ray'Sean Taylor's six assists are big time," Barone added.

The Cougars shot 45 percent (26-58) overall and 10-26 from three. It is the third time this season that SIUE has connected on at least 10 three-pointers in a game.

Kinyon Hodges scored 19 points to lead Eastern Illinois. Caleb Donaldson added 11 points for the Panthers who fell to 6-12 overall and 2-3 in the OVC.

SIUE returns home to face Lindenwood on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

"We have an unbelievable city and community," Barone said. "We want to show them what we're working for."