CHARLESTON – Ring Malith and Ray'Sean Taylor combined for 34 points to lead SIUE to a 60-58 road win at Eastern Illinois Tuesday.
The win is the third in a row for the Cougars, who improved to 3-2 in Ohio Valley Conference play and 10-6 overall. Eastern Illinois fell to 5-10 overall and 1-3 in the league. SIUE has now won five of the last six games it has played at Eastern Illinois.
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Malith turned in his third double-double this season scoring 15 points while pulling down 11 rebounds. Ray'Sean Taylor scored 17 of his game-high 19 points in the second half. Taylor was 11-11 at the free throw line.
The Cougars took a 28-27 lead into halftime, but Eastern Illinois went on top when a pair of free throws from Zion Fuster made it 37-35 with 15 minutes left. The Panthers pushed the lead to as many as four on three different occasions and led until a Desmond Polk jumper put the Cougars back on top gave the Cougars a lead (55-54) with 3:27 left. Ray'Sean Taylor pushed it out to three with two free throws at 3:06.
Eastern Illinois got back within one (58-57) on a basket and free throw by Kooper Jacobi with 1:25 left. Ray'Sean Tayor knocked down his last two free throws with 19 seconds left before EIU took a timeout.
The Panthers' Corey Sawyer missed a three-point attempt and Lazar Grbovic grabbed the rebound but couldn't score before time expired.
The Cougars shot 41 percent (20-49) for the game and knocked down just 3 of 12 from long range. SIUE was 17-29 at the free throw line despite Malith and Ray'Sean Taylor going 15-15. The Cougars outrebounded the Panthers 41-30.
Fruster paced EIU with 17 points. He was 6-6 from the free throw line. Nakyel Shelton scoffed 14. Kooper Jacobi scored 12 points and pulled in nine rebounds. The Panthers were 20-54 (37 percent) shooting and 12-15 at the free throw line.
The Cougars return home to face Tennessee Tech Saturday at First Community Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
