Jacksonville St. defeats E. Illinois 89-84 in 2OT

CHARLESTON, Ill. (AP) — Jason Burnell had 26 points and 14 rebounds as Jacksonville State edged past Eastern Illinois 89-84 in double overtime on Thursday night. De’Torrion Ware added 20 points for the Gamecocks.

Jacksonville State went on an 11-2 run over the final four minutes of regulation to force overtime at 66-66. The Gamecocks’ Ty Hudson made a layup with 3 seconds left in overtime to force the second OT at 75-all. JSU won it by making 10 of 11 free throws over the final 1:36 of the second overtime.

Detrick Mostella had 12 points for Jacksonville State (22-8, 14-3 Ohio Valley Conference), which won its sixth straight game.

Mack Smith scored a season-high 24 points for the Panthers (14-16, 7-10), who have now lost four consecutive games. Josiah Wallace added 23 points and six rebounds. Shareef Smith had six rebounds.

The Gamecocks improved to 2-0 against the Panthers this season. Jacksonville State defeated Eastern Illinois 69-62 on Jan. 10.

Jacksonville State, which remains one game behind conference leaders Belmont and Murray State, finishes out the regular season against Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on the road on Saturday. Eastern Illinois finishes out the regular season against Tennessee Tech at home on Saturday.