ESTERO, Fla. -- — Devontae Blanton scored 17 points as Eastern Kentucky beat Southern Illinois 77-72 on Tuesday.

Blanton also had six rebounds for the Colonels (4-2). Mayar Wol scored 14 points while going 4 of 11 from the floor, including 3 for 7 from 3-point range, and 3 for 4 from the line and added five rebounds. George Kimble III had 13 points and shot 4 for 12 (2 for 5 from 3-point range) and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line.

Ali Abdou Dibba led the Salukis (2-5) in scoring, finishing with 26 points. Southern Illinois also got 21 points, seven rebounds and two steals from Kennard Davis. Drew Steffe also had 10 points.

Eastern Kentucky went into halftime leading Southern Illinois 48-22. Kimble scored 12 points in the half. Eastern Kentucky turned an 11-point second-half lead into an 18-point advantage with an 8-1 run to make it a 65-47 lead. Montavious Myrick scored nine second-half points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.