Eastern Illinois Stuns Murray State With Improbable 27-Point Second-Half Comeback

The Eastern Illinois Panthers came back from 27 points down in the second half and won on a buzzer beater

CHARLESTON, Ill. — Josiah Wallace nailed a three-pointer at the buzzer as Eastern Illinois rallied in the final minutes to shock Murray State 63-60 in a historic come-from-behind upset on Thursday night.

Wallace finished with 20 points—scoring 13 in the closing minutes—and Kashawn Charles added 13 more as the Panthers (13-14, 6-9 Ohio Valley Conference) launched a 20-5 rally over the last three minutes. The Panthers were 8-for-8 shooting in the furious closing rally.

Eastern Illinois' only lead was at game's end, outscoring Murray State 46-28 after halftime.

Dramatic home win for @eiubasketball with @theycallmejwall draining the game winning 3-pointer as Panthers rally from 27 down to beat Murray State, 63-60 pic.twitter.com/FDanCRvPOK

— Eastern Illinois Athletics (@EIU_Panthers) February 21, 2020

Eastern Illinois became the seventh Division I team to win a game it trailed by at least 27 points in the second half, and the Panthers had less time to make the comeback than the other teams on the list, trailing 50-23 with 11:30 to go according to a tweet from David Worlock, the NCAA Director of Statistics.

The Racers (19-8, 12-3), who held a 10-point lead with 3:08 to play, took only five shots in the last three minutes, making two, and turning the ball over three times.

Eastern Illinois had closed to 60-57 when Wallace converted a three-point play with just under a minute to go. Charles and Wallace closed the scoring with back-to-back 3s.

Jaiveon Eaves and Tevin Brown led the Racers with 13 points each.

Murray State plays at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville on Saturday. Eastern Illinois plays host to OVC leader Austin Peay on Saturday.