Jacksonville, Florida-Monday evening's home SIAC contest for Edward Waters was a tale of two halves with the Tigers dominating the opening half, and visiting Kentucky State asserting themselves in the second. In the end, EWU did just enough to earn a much needed 88-85 conference win over the Thorobreds at the Adams-Jenkins Complex.

The Tigers (3-6, 2-1 SIAC) leaned heavily on their pressing defense, which provided several key scoring opportunities in the first half as EWU led by as many as 20 points in the late stages of the half. Kentucky State (2-5, 0-4 SIAC) slightly closed the gap to make it a 44-30 Edward Waters lead at halftime.

The visitors from Frankfort, Kentucky came out dominating the second stanza opening the half on a 20-5 run over the first 4:09 to lead 50-49. From that point, the contest turned out to be a back and forth affair with each team trading shots with the lead eight times in the half. Edward Waters was able to battle back to take a 59-58 lead with 10:41 remaining. The Tigers were able to add to their advantage, leading by as many as nine with 2:47 remaining, leading 85-76. Edward Waters was able to hold off a late 9-3 run by KYSU to earn a much needed victory which snapped a three-game losing skid.

The Tigers defense forced 26 Thorobred turnovers in the contest which turned into 35 EWU points. EWU also had a much better evening on the boards, outrebounding KYSU 35-28, including a 13-3 edge on the offensive boards. The EWU bench scoring was also dominant in the contest, outscoring KYSU's reserves 34-17. Junior guard Goliath Mitchell and freshman guard Jeremiah Kwarteng led Edward Waters with 19 points apiece, while Amari Floyd and Trevino Glover had 12 apiece for the Purple & Orange.

Edward Waters will return to the home floor on Saturday afternoon for another key SIAC matchup against the Badgers of Spring Hill College. Tip-off is set for 5:00pm at the Adams-Jenkins Complex.

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