The way the Lantz Arena crowd reacted after Bobby Joliff’s 12-foot jump shot went in could have suggested many things.

A game-winning shot.

A record-breaking shot.

Or perhaps a shot that signified a late lead change in favor of the Panthers.

But it wasn’t any of those scenarios for Eastern men’s basketball team in their 72-53 loss to Tennessee Tech in Thursday’s Ohio Valley Conference opener for the Panthers.

Tech (3-6, 1-1 OVC) jumped out to a 15-0 lead before Joliff’s jump shot gave the Panthers their first points of the game with 13 minutes, 54 seconds left.

The Panthers missed their first 13 shots of the game before Joliff’s basket.

“We got rattled when we saw balls hit the basket and were not making them,” Eastern head coach Mike Miller said. “All of a sudden, they get a few points on the board and I think that kind of got it going. And then we couldn’t get out of that mode.”

Miller, who didn’t make any of his players available to the media after the game, called almost as many timeouts (four) in the first half as his team made shots.

A stifling man-to-man defense applied by Tech made it difficult for Eastern to set up its triangle offense for much of the first 10 minutes.

Miller said after the game he had a hard time focusing on one area the Panthers did wrong.

“It’s everything,” he said. “It’s one of those thing where nothing went right. We had two free throw violations tonight where we stepped into the lane. You might go a whole season without two, but we had two in one game.”

Eastern (1-7, 0-1) shot a dismal 23 percent (7 of 30) from the field and committed eight turnovers in the first half.

Joliff’s basket didn’t solve any of the Panthers offensive struggles. Eastern missed five of its next six shots and didn’t make its second field goal until Tyler Laser’s 3-pointer with 9:27 left cut Tech’s lead to 27-9.

“When you don’t make shots early, that affects your confidence,” Tennessee Tech head coach Mike Sutton said. “Of course, we got the ball at the rim a few times and got some easy baskets. And we made some jump shots early, which I thought helped us. But when shots don’t fall, you start to press and it’s really hard to play.”

Tech’s largest lead was 36-12 with 4:05 let after Rashaud Nixon converted a three-point play.

Only a late scoring spree by Eastern guard Romain Martin, who led all scorers with 20 points, kept the Panthers from trailing by more than their 42-21 halftime deficit.

The inside play of Tech’s Amadi McKenzie (15 points, 9 rebounds) and Daniel Northern (12 points, 10 rebounds) was too much for the Panthers in the second half.

“It’s a big asset to our team whether we rebound the ball, especially since we have people who are capable,” McKenzie said. “It gives us more chances to score and puts more pressure on the defense.”

Tech’s poor free throw shooting (13-of-29), kept the Panthers in the game. Eastern cut it to 60-48 late before Tech pulled away.

“As a team we were terrible, but I reflected the team myself,” said Northern, who finished 4-of-9 from the free throw line. “I shot bad free throws. I kind of rushed my shot. Our offensive game wasn’t there, but when you play that good of defense you’re going to win games.”

Miller said he had a hard time finding any positive moments from Thursday night heading into Saturday’s home game against Tennessee State.

“I’ve talked about this,” he said. “I have expectations for this program and I have expectations we perform a certain way. And we didn’t do it.”

– Online Editor Scott Richey contributed to this report