CHICAGO -- Reggie Smith scored a career-high 23 points on 7 of 13 shooting and added 6 assists to advance Eastern Illinois to an 86-66 win over the University of Illinois-Chicago Saturday.

After Marc Brown's jumper with 11:11 left in the first half trimmed the Eastern Illinois lead to 14-13, the Panthers (2-1) used a 17-2 run to pull away and maintained its lead for the duration of the game. EIU shot 57.1 percent from the floor and made 9 of 14 3-pointers and took a 40-27 lead into halftime.

The Flames (1-2) suffered from lackluster shooting (40.4 percent), though Marc Brown had 20 points on 6 of 11 field goals. Kelsey Barlow had 12 points and 7 assists and Jordan Harks shot 6 of 10 while scoring 13 points off the bench.

Luke Piotrowski had three of Eastern Illinois nine blocked shots.