EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The largest crowd of the year at First Community Arena saw SIUE men's basketball close out its regular season in style,as SIUE led from wire to wire in a 77-50 win over Eastern Illinois in front of 2,634 fans Saturday.

The 27-point margin of victory is the second-largest ever in an OVC game for SIUE.

The Cougars finished the regular season 19-12 overall and 12-8 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE is the fifth seed for the tournament and will face Eastern Illinois again Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. EIU is the eighth seed.

It will be the third time the two teams have faced off this year and the third time they have met in postseason play.

Prior to the game, SIUE recognized eight seniors. Jack Campion, CJ Hall, Ring Malith, Darius Robinson Arnas Sakenis, Myles Thompson, Kyle Thomas and Jo Valrie were all honored in a pregame ceremony.

Saturday, SIUE opened the game on an 8-0 run and never looked back. The Cougars quickly pushed the lead out to double digits and led by as many as 12 in the half. The Panthers used a 7-0 to cut the lead back to five, but SIUE led 35-26 at half.

After half, SIUE took control. A Jordan Pickett transition-three-pointer with 15:04 to play capped a 9-0 run and had the Cougars up 51-32. Later a 15-0 run pushed the lead to 68-41 after a Thomas layup with 7:32 left. The lead got to as many as 29 for the Cougars.

SIUE connected on 54 percent of its shots overall, the highest shooting percentage this year against a Division I opponent. The Cougars hit 17-27 (63 percent) of their shots in the second half

SIUE knocked down 12 of 27 three-point attempts (44 percent). The 12 made threes were the second most in a game this year for the Cougars.

SIUE also collected 21 assists on 31 made shots. The 21 assists also are a season high against a Division I opponent.

Sakenis scored 16 for SIUE to lead all scorers. He added five rebounds, two steals and a block in his final home game. Tyler King scored 15 and led SIUE with a career-best seven rebounds. Campion scored eight points and added nine assists.

With the win, SIUE improved to 10-5 at home, marking the third consecutive year that the Cougars have won at least 10 games at home.