Eastern Illinois roars back to beat Western Illinois, 76-65
AP
Dec 08, 2018
MACOMB, Ill. (AP) Josiah Wallace scored 18 points and Eastern Illinois Panthers came from nine points down at halftime to beat Western Illinois Leathernecks for the second time this season, 76-65 on Saturday night.
Eastern Illinois now has won back-to-back games after a three-game losing streak.
Keshon Montague hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the first half to send the Leathernecks into intermission with a 38-29 advantage and Ben Pyle pushed it to 41-29 in the opening seconds of the second half with another 3. Kobe Webster hit back-to-back 3s and Isaac Johnson hit a jumper to make it 49-33 with 16:43 left.
Wallace hit a jumper with just under 15 minutes left to start a 21-0 run that put the Panthers in the lead 52-49 on a Ben Harvey 3. Pyle answered with a 3 to end an 11 minute Western Illinois scoring drought, but the Panthers ran off another 10 straight points for a 62-52 lead.
Mack Smith added 14 points for Eastern Illinois (5-5). Ben Harvey added 12 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Webster led Western Illinois (4-6) with 17 points. Pyle contributed 16.
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