Mike Robinson picked the worst possible time to start to making bad decisions for Eastern in Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game against Murray State.

The Panthers had just rallied from a 10-point second half deficit to trail 60-58 with 3 minutes, 19 seconds left. Robinson had driven past a Murray State defender and had a clear lane to the basket. Eastern’s point guard went up for the layup, seeking to make contact with a Racer defender. The only problem for Robinson was there was not a Murray player near him.

Robinson missed the layup, which would have tied the game at 60, and after Murray’s Bruce Carter made two free throws to increase its lead to four, Robinson committed his third turnover of the game, giving Murray the ball back. Eastern’s late miscues triggered an 11-0 Racer run, a run that ensured Murray would escape with a 73-62 win.

“We just beat ourselves today,” said freshman guard Romain Martin, who finished with a team-high 23 points. “In order for us to win, we’ve just got to take care of the ball and we didn’t do that.”

The Panthers finished with 20 turnovers, including 12 in the first half. The Racers took advantage of Eastern’s turnovers, scoring 20 points off them. Murray head coach Billy Kennedy attributed switching to a four-guard lineup as a key in forcing the turnovers.

“Bruce Carter did a good job getting his hands on some balls,” said Kennedy about the junior guard, who finished with a game-high 28 points to go along with four steals. “That four-guard lineup was pretty good for us. I’m just thankful we got the win.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller was at a loss for words in trying to explain how Eastern dropped its second consecutive game.

“I wish I could pinpoint it to something and say ‘You know what, that was really clear that this is what it was,” Miller said. “I’m not sure I can say that I’ve seen us throw the ball around or throw the ball away like we did tonight. We did it early in the game, we settled a little bit in the middle and then we got to the end and we did it again when we got it back even with three minutes and some change.”

Eastern (5-10, 1-5 OVC) rallied from a 53-43 deficit midway through the second half, going on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 58 after Martin made one of two free throws.

Murray State (6-8, 4-2) used two separate runs in the first half Tuesday night to put distance between itself and Eastern.

Murray State’s Tyler Holloway was the Racers best 3-point shooting option coming in and followed through on that in the first half.

Holloway made three 3-pointeres in the first four minutes of the game to help the Racers out to an 11-3 lead.

Holloway, who came into Monday night’s game seventh in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (26 of 66 for 39.4 percent), had hit two 3-pointers before the Panthers had made their first shot. Holloway only hit one 3-pointer in the second half, but made nine of 12 free throws in the game to finish with 22 points.

The Racers quick start forced Panther head coach Mike Miller to call a timeout less than four minutes into the game.

Eastern responded after the timeout, taking a 16-13 lead with 10:42 remaining after Mike Robinson hit a 3-pointer. It was the Panthers biggest lead of the game.

Both teams traded baskets in the next seven minutes, with the scored tied at 26 after Murray’s Dwayne Paul made a layup inside.

Paul’s layup started a 12-0 run in the next 2:43, giving Murray a 36-28 lead heading into halftime.

Eastern plays Thursday at Southeast Missouri. SEMO, was tied with the Panthers for last place in the OVC but defeated Eastern Kentucky Tuesday night, leaving Eastern solely in last place in the conference.

Junior center Jake Byrne looks for a pass during the first half of Eastern’s game against Murray State Tuesday night at Lantz Arena. The Racers beat Eastern 73-62. Eastern is in last place in the Ohio Valley Conference. (Nora Maberry/The Daily Eastern New

(more…)