Romain Martin was the last Eastern player to leave the locker room Tuesday night, and as he left, he reached back and flicked the lights off.

The freshman guard flicked the lights off of a Southeast Missouri win more than two hours prior with his first-half scoring performance.

Martin scored 15 of his 17 points in the first half, helping Eastern build up a 37-19 halftime lead.

That 18-point halftime lead stood firm despite a late rally from SEMO and the Panthers won 77-69, their fourth win in the last five games.

Martin’s three 3-pointers helped complement Eastern’s solid inside game in the first half.

Martin’s longest 3-pointer, with him standing a foot away from SEMO’s bench, put Eastern ahead 29-11 with 4 minutes, 5 seconds left.

“If I’m open, I’m going to shoot it,” Martin said. “I just knew it was good. I followed through and got my feet set.”

SEMO’s 6-foot-9 center Michael Rembert did not play in the game because of a knee injury he suffered last Thursday against Morehead State.

SEMO head coach Scott Edgar said the Redhawks missed his presence inside.

“I give them all the credit, but we missed Mike,” Edgar said. “He can get us some baskets and he takes space up in there. People know he’s one of our key guys.”

Eastern (9-18, 5-13 Ohio Valley Conference) used Rembert’s absence to its advantage, scoring 12 of its first 14 points off layups.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said the emphasis of getting the ball inside has been there all season, but the execution hasn’t always been there.

“I think sometimes it just works out,” Miller said. “The execution was just a little bit better and guys made shots.”

Junior center Jake Byrne led the Panthers inside, scoring 16 points and making all eight of his free throws. Byrne said the absence of Rembert didn’t change Eastern’s style of play.

“We’ve been (getting the ball inside) more so recently,” Byrne said. “I think that’s been kind of our game lately and it’s been working. We just got to keep doing it.”

Eastern built up a 56-38 lead with 9:40 to play, but SEMO kept gnawing at the lead.

But Eastern’s ability to make free throws and hold onto the ball late helped seal the win.

The Panthers made 25 of 31 free throws, including nine of its last 10.

SEMO’s full-court pressure defense helped the Redhawks get back into the game late, forcing Eastern into 10-second half turnovers.

“We turned it over a couple times and they got some quick baskets,” Miller said. “We could have done a little better job, I think, just being stronger with the ball. But I think that’s the system (SEMO’s) trying to implement there is that they wear you down and maybe you make a mental mistake. Or you make a mistake you normally wouldn’t do.”

The win keeps alive Eastern’s OVC postseason hopes.

The Panthers are currently alone in tenth place. Three teams, Morehead State, Jacksonville State and Tennessee State, are all tied for seventh place with 6-11 conference records. The top eight teams make the OVC Tournament.

“Our deal is we went through January and we didn’t play bad in January,” Miller said.

“We played some good games in January, we really did. Our January was tough on us so all we had was February. Our focus can’t be on ‘Let’s make the tournament.’ It’s ‘Let’s play good basketball. Let’s win games.'”

Freshman guard Romain Martin takes a jump shot during the men’s basketball game against Southeast Missouri State in Lantz arena Tuesday night. (John Bailey / The Daily Eastern News)

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