Senior guard Malcolm Herron made a 3-pointer to give the Eastern men’s basketball team a 27-25 lead over Northern Illinois with 20 seconds left in the first half.

It was the 11th lead change of the game — it would also be the last.

Eastern defeated Northern 59-47 in the Ramada Worldwide BracketBusters Saturday.

Eastern improved to 9-20 overall, one game after it 31-point loss to Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont. Northern fell to 5-20 and has lost six straight.

The Panthers took a 27-25 lead over the Huskies into halftime.

After the break, the Panthers reeled off an 11-2 run over the first four minutes of the second half to extend Eastern’s lead to 38-27.

Junior guard Morris Woods led Eastern with a game-high 18 points, 13 of which came in the second half.

He was 7-of-10 shooting, and he also managed to grab six rebounds, five of which came in the second half.

Woods has scored in double-figures in seven of the last nine games and was the only Panther to score in double-figures against Northern.

Northern came within one possession again with 7:10 remaining, as it trailed 44-41, but Eastern then closed the game out on a 15-6 run.

Eastern made 13 of its 16 free throws in the second half, eight of which came over the last 7:10.

Forwards junior Sherman Blanford and sophomore Josh Piper scored nine points each.

All nine of Blanford’s points came off free throws, as he was 9-of-14 from the line.

Meanwhile, Piper tied senior guard Taylor Jones with a game-high eight rebounds.

Huskies’ forward Abdel Nader led the Nothern with 17 points off 8-of-17 shooting and seven rebounds. He was the only Huskie to score in double-digits.

Anthony Catezone can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcatezone@eiu.edu.