GREENVILLE, Ill. - The men's basketball team kept their perfect start to the SLIAC season alive with a 118-111 win against Blackburn on Saturday at H.J. Long Gymnasium.
The game was knotted at 50-all after the first 17 and a half minutes, but the Panthers closed the first half on an 8-4 run to give them a 58-54 lead at halftime. The Panthers never trailed in the second half.
Blackburn came back to tie the game at 61-all, but Greenville soon regained the lead and did not relinquish it. The Panthers eventually took a 15 point lead at 91-76 with 9:11 to go.
Greenville saw their lead reduced to five, but that was as close as Blackburn could get as the Panthers finished with seven point win.
Eric Williams was the leading scorer for Greenville with 24 points, and he added seven rebounds and four steals.
Johari Dix, who was honored before the game for scoring his 1000th point, added 18 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals.
Daniel Saeli had 10 points in the game, and he led GU with five steals.
Greenville and Blackburn were even in rebounds as each team had 54, and both teams had trouble keeping the ball safe. Blackburn had 36 turnovers and GU added 30 turnovers.
The Panthers (5-4, 3-0 SLIAC) travel to Dominican for a game against the Stars on Tuesday at 6 p.m.