Ohio Valley Conference Big Wins

EIU and SIUE Produce the Upsets

(St. Louis, MO) – Wednesday was a day for Ohio Valley Conference big wins. While Eastern Illinois was earning a victory over the Big Ten’s Iowa, Southern Illinois Edwardsville was taking down the Atlantic Ten’s Saint Louis.

EIU’s 92-83 win over the Hawkeyes was its fourth all-time over a power five conference school. The Panthers trailed by eight points at the half and shot 72 percent from the field in the pivotal second half. EIU (4-9) ended Iowa’s 24-game home, non-conference winning streak.

Kinyon Hodges led five double figure scoring Panthers with 22 points. Hodges, Kyle Thomas (13) and Dan Luers (10) did so coming off Marty Simmons’ bench. Yaakema Rose, who recently eclipsed the 1,000 point career mark added 13 to his career total. Caleb Donaldson chipped in with 16.

In what was no doubt the biggest win of the Marty Simmons era at EIU the Panthers knocked off their first power five conference win since defeating Missouri in 2017.

Cougars Keep Bringing Big Wins

Southern Illinois Edwardsville is off to its best-ever Division 1 start. At 9-4 the Cougars have registered impressive wins against Troy and at both Longwood and Kansas City. After frustrating, narrow losses to Missouri Valley Conference foes Bradley and Illinois State, the victory over Saint Louis is one of the biggest Ohio Valley Conference big wins this year.

SIUE has sought to be relevant in the St. Louis sports media market and Wednesday’s win puts the Cougars squarely on the map. Even the league has taken notice and placed SIUE’s game with Tennessee State as its first ESPN game of the season.

SIUE erased an 18-point deficit to defeat Saint Louis 69-67.

In just his second game back from illness DeeJuan Pruitt led the way with a career-high 21 points. Ray’Sean Taylor (12 points) made the game winning points with a running layup and two free throws. Coach Brian Barone says it was a team effort.

“It’s a really good group of guys who care about one another,” SIUE Head Coach Brian Barone said. “They care. They love. It’s pretty cool how we battled. We did it the right way.”

SIUE out rebounded the bigger Billikens and blocked eight shots on the defensive end. Lamar Wright (13) and Damarco Minor (11) also reached double figures.

The Cougars continue as the OVC’s highest NET rated team at 96. As of right now, the SLU road victory is over a top 100 NET ranked team.

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