» By TRENT SINGER – [email protected]
The Govs headed into Saturday night’s Jan. 21 game on a four-game winning streak and came away victorious with a 76-64 win over the Eastern Illinois Panthers.
Led by senior guard TyShwan Edmondson, who ended the game with 24 points, the Govs won their second-straight road game.
Edmondson’s play highlighted the night, making 9-of-18 from the floor and finishing 4-of-7 from beyond the arc. He played all 40 minutes of the game, as well as contributing four steals to the winning effort.
Junior guard Jerome Clyburn scored 18 points and was nearly perfect from the free-throw line, going 12-of-14. Senior guard Josh Terry finished with 11 points, six rebounds and five steals, and senior forward Melvin Baker contributed 10 points, eight coming in the second half.
The team’s recent success began last week, after beating conference opponents Eastern Kentucky, Jacksonville State and Tennessee State at the Dunn Center. That success has carried over for the Governors while playing on the road, winning two road games by at least 12 points against conference opponents SIU Edwardsville and Eastern Illinois on Saturday.
The Govs are currently tied for third place with Eastern Kentucky at 5-3 in the OVC standings and sit behind only Southeast Missouri State (5-2) and the NCAA’s sole unbeaten team in college basketball, Murray State (8-0).
Despite losing 13 of their first 16 games, the team’s five consecutive wins is the conference’s second-longest active streak behind Murray State, who continues to climb the college rankings.
The team will continue to take to the road by traveling to Southeast Missouri on Thursday night, Jan. 26, in what should be an intriguing OVC matchup between second-and-third-place teams. Following that game, they will play UT Martin on Saturday night in the Dunn Center. TAS
