EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – SIUE newcomers Tim Johnson and Maurice Wiltz combined for half of SIUE's points Thursday as the Cougars routed Greenville 84-50 in exhibition men's basketball at the Vadalabene Center.

The duo sat out last season after transferring from other NCAA Division I schools. Johnson, who scored a game-high 27 points, came from George Washington University while Wiltz, who pumped in 15, came to SIUE from Colorado State.

"Those guys are just energy guys who can definitely score for us," said SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester. "Hopefully they can keep it going and add some more guys into the mix. But they did a pretty good job for sitting out a year. It's tough to sit out a year and then come out and in your first game account for half the team's 84 points."

It was Forrester's largest exhibition victory at SIUE since the Cougars defeated MacMurray for a 30-point win during the 2009-10 season.

Johnson, who shot 12 of 19 from the field, also led all players with 15 rebounds to pick up a double-double. All 11 SIUE players who had minutes Thursday recorded at least one rebound.

"One of our deficits over the years was rebounding the basketball," said Forrester. "I thought we did a decent job on the defensive end, but on the offensive end I thought we didn't do a great job of hitting the boards that hard. When we did get the rebound we couldn't finish the basket.  That's another thing we need to work on is finishing around the basket."

SIUE leaped out to a 9-0 lead and never looked back. The Cougars ran up a 50-31 lead by halftime. While SIUE's offense was not as strong with 34 points in the second half, the defense was strong by holding the Panthers to just 19.

The Cougars shot 40.5 percent from the field and hit 6 of 22 from three-point range. One disappointment, noted Forrester, was his team's free throw percentage.

"One thing that stood out was our lack of free throw shooting, we shot 50 percent. We have to be better than that. We can't get to the line and only make 50 percent of our free throws.  But overall, I thought our guys played pretty hard."

Daniel Anderson led the Panthers with 14 points off the bench. Anthony Metzler also had a double-double for Greenville with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

SIUE's next action is its final exhibition game. The Cougars welcome MacMurray Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off at the Vadalabene Center.

"That's what these exhibition games are for.  But I was decently pleased with the way we played," Forrester added.