By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – On an afternoon celebrating the careers of its two seniors, the Tennessee Tech men's basketball team saw its wave of the future step up and help deliver one last victory in the Hooper Eblen Center for its two veterans, as the Golden Eagles topped visiting Eastern Illinois on Saturday, 75-67.
Prior to the critical Ohio Valley Conference match-up, senior Golden Eagle guards Diante Wood and Jayvis Harvey were honored in a special, Senior Day ceremony. Once the ball was in the air, however, it was back to work for the purple and gold.
In need of a win to stay alive for the last spot in the OVC Tournament at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind. in two weeks, Tech (10-19, 5-11), waged a healthy battle with the Panthers (13-16, 7-9). The lead exchanged hands six times while the contest saw seven ties, but it was the Cookeville crew's elite 3-point shooting and solid defense that allowed the team to hold the advantage for more than 30 minutes in the contest.
After the Golden Eagles ran out to a 15-point lead in the opening half, the Panthers spent the final six minutes leading up to the buzzer doing their best work of the night on both sides of the ball. When it came time to report to the locker room, the score was all knotted up at 38-38.
The purple and gold sank seven tries from beyond the arc over the first 20 minutes and kept that approach the remainder of the evening. Tech got six more timely makes from distance in the second half, helping take back control after an early deficit and build the lead back out to double digits.
For the contest, the Golden Eagles sank 13-of-25 attempts from deep, firing at a 52 percent clip. Tech's defense also held EIU to just 5-for-20 efficiency from downtown and 40.6 percent shooting from the floor.
Sophomore forward Daniel Egbuniwe set the tone right out of the gate for Tech, scoring eight early points and finishing the evening with a career-high-tying 16 points on 6-for-10 shooting. He added seven rebounds to the mix as well.
Junior forward Rodney Johnson Jr. provided the surge in the second half, contributing 14 of his team-high 18 points over the closing 20 minutes. The big man converted seven on his 10 shots from the field, buried a pair of treys and snagged four boards.
Rookie guard Kyle Layton turned in a pair of career-high marks to help lead the way to the win, sinking 4-of-7 tries from 3-point range on his way to 14 points. Sophomore guard Josiah Davis continued his electric play, doing a little bit of everything with 12 points, a team-high eight rebounds, and four assists.
In his final contest in the Hoop, Harvey posted 11 points with a 3-for-7 performance from downtown. He added five rebounds, three dimes, and two steals to the stat sheet as well. Wood led the Golden Eagles with six assists and tacked on four points with six rebounds.
Tech will hit the road for the final weekend of league play before the OVC Tournament, opening the final trip at UT Martin with a 7:30 p.m. CT tilt on Thursday evening. The regular-season finale will feature a 3:00 p.m. match-up at Little Rock on Saturday, Mar. 2.
Photos by Jim Dillon
