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RICHMOND, Ky. – Senior Jaron Jones recorded his first career double-double, but it was not enough as the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team could not recover from its lowest shooting percentage of the season in a 63-58 loss to visiting SIUE Thursday night in McBrayer Arena.

EKU (15-15, 6-9 OVC) trailed by a seemingly insurmountable 14 points, 57-43, with 1:29 remaining in the game only to pull within three on a tip-in by freshman Timmy Knipp with eight ticks on the clock. Jerome Jones, however, was fouled on SIUE’s ensuing possession and connected on both foul shots to end the Colonels’ comeback bid.

Jaron Jones finished with 17 points and a career-high 14 rebounds to record EKU’s first double-double of the season. Senior Joshua Jones and freshman Eric Stutz, meanwhile, both contributed 10 points in the losing effort.

SIUE (9-16, 6-9 OVC) was powered by a pair of double-doubles, as Jerome Jones recorded 22 points and 11 rebounds and Mark Yelovich poured in 16 points and grabbed 11 boards. Derian Shaffer, meanwhile, scored a career-high 17 points.

Besides shooting only 30.4 percent (21-of-69) from the floor, the Colonels also labored through one of their worst three-point shooting performances of the season. EKU connected on just 11 percent (3-for-27) of their shots from deep. 

Eastern missed its first 13 shots from the field to fall behind early, but used strong defense midway through the first half to claw back into the game. The Colonels forced four turnovers in the span of a minute and grabbed a 13-11 lead on a layup by junior Mike DiNunno with 8:34 on the clock.

SIUE retook the lead, 15-14, on a one-handed slam in the lane by Jerome Jones three minutes later, and the Cougars held the lead for the remainder of the game.

It originally appeared that even with the loss, Eastern Kentucky had clinched a spot in the upcoming OVC tournament due to a loss by Eastern Illinois Thursday night. However, a potential scenario was left out of the original tie-breaker list that could leave EKU out of the league tourney.

If Eastern Kentucky loses to Eastern Illinois on Saturday and SIUE loses to Morehead State, EKU, EIU and SIUE would finish tied for eighth in the final OVC standings at 6-10. Eastern Illinois would win the tie-breaker, due to a 3-1 composite record against Eastern Kentucky and SIUE, and thus earn the final spot.

If Eastern Kentucky defeats Eastern Illinois Saturday, the Colonels would clinch the final spot in the OVC tournament.

The Colonels close out the regular season with the de-facto ‘play-in’ game Saturday night when they host EIU at 7 p.m.