A steal from graduate guard Artese Stapleton in the first four minutes in the second half solidified the most steals within a season in program history. 

Stapleton’s four steals helped the Panthers have a strong defensive night in their 71-60 win over the Little Rock Trojans Thursday night in Groniger Arena. 

Along with his four steals, Stapleton finished the game with 23 points, five rebounds and three assists. 

“I think I did a good job at being a leader, being aggressive and keeping us in order,” Stapleton said. “Making sure everybody feels good [because] you got to have fun out there.” 

Even though Eastern is mathematically eliminated from the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, the Panthers came out dominant, never giving up the lead. 

Eastern started the game with a 12-3 run over Little Rock and never looked back. 

“Little Rock is a hard team to play against, they’re very physical,” Eastern’s head coach Marty Simmons said. “I thought we stayed together, shared the basketball, and really helped each other a lot on defense.” 

Stapleton’s 23-point performance is a career-high for him at the Division I level. 

“Artese played great, that’s my running mate,” senior guard NaKyel Shelton said. “We play well off each other. The team shared the ball to give us shots and good things happen.” 

Shelton led the team with 25 points of his own, and he also recorded four steals, two rebounds and two assists. 

Shelton and Stapleton showed their versatility against the Trojans, making key defensive plays as well as getting their teammates involved in scoring. 

“[Stapleton and Shelton] are two seniors, and it’s what you’d expect from the seniors,” Simmons said. “They’re coming to the end of their careers. I thought they played fantastic, played with a lot of emotion and passion. I was really proud of them.” 

Redshirt junior guard Obadiah Curtis is a prominent piece for the Panthers, offensively and defensively. 

Curtis recorded nine points, two steals and one assist. During one of his steals, Curtis made his way to the basket and proceeded to windmill dunk the ball into the net. 

“I felt we came out and competed for 40 minutes, regardless of what was going on in the flow of the game, we stuck to the game plan,” Curtis said. 

One of the team’s goals was to play hard for 40 minutes, and Simmons thought the team’s effort from beginning to end was high and helped them win the game. 

“How our guys came out in the beginning, [it] really set the tone,” Simmons said. “Little Rock is a really good team, very talented team. They came at us, [and] we bent a little bit but never broke. The effort from start to finish was one of our best efforts of the season. 

With this win, the Panthers are now 7-12 in the conference and 11-19 overall. 

Eastern’s last game of the season is against Southeast Missouri State. Seven seniors will be recognized on the Panthers before the game. 

Tip-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. in Groniger Arena.

Zaria Flippin can be reached at 581-2812 or at zhflippin@eiu.edu.