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Live Stats  I  Live Audio  I  Live Webcast  I  Game Notes

RICHMOND, Ky. – The Colonels will play their second OVC game in three days at home on Saturday against Southern Illinois Edwardsville.  Children 12-and-under will receive free admission as part of Kids’ Day At EKU.

The game, sponsored by the Richmond Register, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. 

The live radio broadcast of the game is available in the Richmond area on WCYO 100.7 FM, and can be heard worldwide on EKUSports.com.  A live video broadcast of the contest is available on OVCDigitalNetwork.com.

The Colonels (11-3, 1-0 OVC) are coming off a 65-54 win over Eastern Illinois on Thursday.  Tarius Johnson, a transfer from Three Rivers Community College, scored 11 points in the first 16 minutes of the game against the Panthers, surpassing his previous EKU game-high of 10 points.  He finished with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field.

In the latest NCAA rankings Eastern Kentucky is in the top-50 in the nation in turnover margin (5th), three-point field goals per game (16th), three-point field goal percentage defense (20th), field goal percentage (41st), turnovers per game (45th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (45th).

SIU Edwardsville enters Saturday’s game with a 4-7 record and an 0-1 mark in conference play.  The Cougars have lost two straight and are 0-6 on the road this season.  Two of the team’s four wins have come against non-Division I teams.

SIUE is one of only six teams in the nation with no freshmen on their team.

The Cougars are 11th in the Ohio Valley Conference with an average of 61.6 points per game.  SIUE has the second lowest field goal percentage (40.8 percent), the second highest defensive three-point field goal percentage (32.8 percent) and the third highest defensive field goal percentage (44.7 percent) in the conference. 

Jerome Jones, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, is the team’s leading scorer at 15.3 points per game and second leading rebounder (5.2 rpg).  He is 25-of-62 from three-point range this year.  Sophomore Kris Davis, a 6-foot-2 guard, is the second leading scorer (10.8 ppg).  He led all freshmen last season with a 59.8 three-point field goal shooting percentage but has made just 33 percent this season.

Mark Yelovich, a 6-foot-6 senior forward, was a second team All-OVC pick last season and is SIUE’s fourth all-time leading scorer.  He missed a month of the season but has played in the last two games.  Since returning he’s 3-for-13 from the field and averaging 3.5 points per game.

The Cougars lost 68-64 at Morehead State on Thursday.  SIUE shot 44 percent from the field while limiting MSU to 40 percent shooting, but were out-rebounded by 21.  The Eagles turned 19 offensive rebounds into 11 second chance points. 

Maurice Wiltz, a 6-foot-2 sophomore guard, returned to action for the first time since December 5.  He led the Cougars with 16 points.  Davis added 14 points.

This will be the fifth meeting between the two programs.  The Colonels won the first two meetings but the Cougars swept the home-and-home series last season.