South Alabama defense frustrates Eastern Illinois, 63-52

Dec 17, 2017, 10:37 am

MOBILE, Ala. -- Herb McGee scored 15 points and South Alabama snapped a two-game losing streak by keeping Eastern Illinois winless on the road, beating the Panthers 63-52 Saturday.

The win was the Jaguars first against Eastern Illinois in three meetings.

Looking to improve its perimeter defense, South Alabama limited the Panthers to just 4 of 15 shooting from distance and 21 of 65 shooting overall (32.3 percent) from the field.

Jordan Andrews took a feed from McGee and scored on a layup to push the South Alabama lead to 18 points, 57-39 with under six minutes to play. Eastern Illinois rallied, and was able to get the deficit under 10 points on Ray Crossland's jumper with :13 left in the game.

Trhae Mitchell finished with nine points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the Jaguars.

Crossland had 17 points for Eastern Illinois (2-7) which is now are 0-7 on the road.