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RICHMOND, Ky. – In the regular season finale Saturday night, the Eastern Kentucky University men’s basketball team rolled to an 86-74 win over Eastern Illinois in McBrayer Arena. Senior Joshua Jones tallied a career-high 27 points in the triumph.

Eastern Kentucky and Eastern Illinois entered the contest battling for the eighth and final spot in the OVC tournament. Thanks to the win, EKU has now qualified for 10 consecutive league tournaments.

The Colonels (16-15, 7-9 OVC) shot 55.2 percent (32-of-58) from the floor, marking the first time in eight games that Eastern Kentucky finished above 50 percent shooting. Joshua Jones connected on 10-fo-14 (71.4 percent) field goal attempts, including 4-of-5 (80 percent) from three-point range.

Meanwhile, fellow senior Jaron Jones reached the 20-point plateau for the 13th time this season (23 points). Junior #D’Mitri Riggs# added 16 tallies and a game-high seven rebounds.

Eastern Illinois (12-17, 5-11) was led by Jeremy Granger’s 26 points.

The first half featured eight lead changes before Eastern Kentucky rolled off 10 straight points, capped by a Riggs lay-in, to build a 35-26 cushion with 4:07 on the clock. A Joshua Jones pull-up jumper right before halftime made the score 42-31 at the break.

Eastern Kentucky then scored nine of the first 11 points in the second half to stretch the lead to 18 points, 51-33. Eastern Illinois never challenged the rest of the way.

The Colonels have now won 10 straight meetings over Eastern Illinois in McBrayer Arena.

EKU will next play in the opening round of the 2012 OVC tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 29 in Nashville, Tenn. Eastern Kentucky will be the No. 8 seed and play No. 5 Southeast Missouri. Tip time is set for 7 p.m. ET.