Joey Miller scored 24 points and Eastern Illinois led wire to wire in a 73-59 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Wednesday night.
Alfonzo McKinnie added 17 points, Jeremy Granger 14 and L.C. Doss 13 for the Panthers (7-6, 1-1 Ohio Valley), who snapped a four-game losing streak. Zavier Sanders had a game-high 13 rebounds.
Kris Davis led the Cougars (4-8, 2-1) with 14 points. Mark Yelovich added 12 points and Jerome Jones 11.
Eastern Illinois dominated inside, outrebounding the Cougars 37-23 and piling up a 30-20 advantage on points in the paint.
The Panthers bolted to a 5-0 lead and pushed it 34-21 at intermission. The lead crested at 61-40 on a 3-pointer by Miller with 8:22 left.
Eastern Illinois shot 48 percent (25 of 52) while limiting Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to 41 percent (19 of 46).
