Eastern Illinois roars back to beat Western Illinois, 76-65

Dec 9, 2018, 03:30 am

MACOMB, Ill. -- Josiah Wallace scored 18 points and Eastern Illinois came from nine points down at halftime to beat Western Illinois 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.