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GAME NOTES: Eastern Kentucky hopes to extend its winning streak to five in a row as the Colonels battle the Eastern Illinois Panthers in Ohio Valley Conference action tonight at the Lantz Arena.

Eastern Illinois won a stunning battle at home against Morehead State on Thursday, 76-75, as the game was decided by two technical free-throws with one second remaining. The technical foul came when a timeout was called by Morehead State when there were no timeouts remaining for the team. The win was the Panthers' second straight and third in their last five games, improving their conference record to an even 7-7.

Eastern Kentucky is coming off of a 59-56 victory at Southeast Missouri State, marking the third time this year the Colonels have won four in a row. Tonight, EKU hopes to win its fifth consecutive game for the first time in two years. A victory would also mark the team's ninth win in its last 11 contests.

Eastern Kentucky has been victorious in four of the last five skirmishes at Eastern Illinois and leads the all-time series, 16-11. The Panthers found themselves on the short end of the stick on January 14th as they traveled to Eastern Kentucky and fell in a 67-59 final. Papa Oppong led the way for EKU, dropping 18 points, while Tyler Laser scored a game-high 21 points in a losing effort for EIU.

Eastern Illinois slipped past Morehead State on Thursday, improving its record to 13-11 on the season. The Panthers hit an impressive 21-of-22 shots from the free-throw line, proving to be clutch en route to the victory. James Hollowell scored a game-high 23 points, while the team's leading scorer, Tyler Laser (14.1 ppg), added 16 points in the win. Jeremy Granger contributed 10 points, mirroring his scoring average for the season. EIU averages 67.1 ppg on 44.7 percent shooting, while giving up 65.9 ppg on 41.0 percent field goal efficiency. The last meeting between these two teams in Charleston saw the EIU defense shut down EKU, holding the Colonels to a season-low 48 points on the way to a 10-point victory.

The Colonels head into this matchup after staving off a Southeast Missouri State comeback on Thursday night. The Colonels held a comfortable 36-23 lead at the intermission after shooting 50 percent from the floor. However, they almost let the game slip away with a poor 8-of-26 performance in the second stanza. Josh Taylor scored 18 points and Justin Stommes added 14 as EKU improved its record to 18-8 on the season, 10-4 in conference. Stommes and Taylor lead the team in scoring on the year, netting an average of 15.0 and 13.2 ppg, respectively. Guard Papa Oppong adds 11.6 ppg. The Colonels shot 56.3 percent from the field in their previous battle with Eastern Illinois, marking the highest shooting percentage given up so far this season by the Panthers. For the season, EKU averages 71.5 ppg on 47.7 percent shooting from the floor.

The Panthers head into this tilt on a high note following Thursday's shocking victory, but expect Eastern Kentucky to quiet down the leftover excitement with a victory in Charleston behind a solid offensive attack.