The Eastern men’s basketball team dropped its regular season opener 72-59 on Saturday against Ball State in Muncie, Ind.

The Panthers (0-1) were down 23-6 to start the game and battled back in the second half to get the score to 58-52 with 4 minutes, 47 seconds remaining, but the Cardinals (1-0) were able to hold on to beat Eastern in their own season opener.

“We started out slow and allowed them to throw the first punch,” sophomore guard Tyler Laser said. “We did a good job in the second half fighting back.”

Junior guard Romain Martin led the Panthers with 17 points, while adding one assist and four rebounds.

Forwards Edin Suljic and Billy Parrish each added 12 points, while Parrish led all Panthers with five rebounds.

The Cardinals led by as many as 19 points in the first half as senior forward Anthony Newell scored 10 of his 19 points during the Cardinals’ 23-6 run.

The Cardinals were able to keep the Panthers down in the first half as they shot 57 percent from the field (17-of-30) and 55 percent from 3-point range (6-of-11) in the first 20 minutes.

Eastern battled back in the second half with an 8-1 run that put the Panthers down 45-34. The Panthers clawed back into the game holding Ball State to 27 percent from the field in the second half.

“Basketball is a game of spurts,” Laser said. “We felt that they threw their best shot at us in the first half. In the second half, we went to a zone to keep them from going inside. We focused on defense.”

Suljic scored twice during the run and Laser converted a 3-pointer.

However, the Cardinals proved to be too much as they responded to Eastern’s run with a run of their own and got the lead back up to 13 points where it would stay.

Ball State freshman forward Jarrod Jones led all players in the game with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Cardinals’ senior guard Brandon Lampley started the Ball State attack with seven assists. He also scored seven points

Laser said he saw some good and bad things from the game. He said a good thing for the Panthers is that what the team did poorly is fixable, so he is optimistic about what the team can do. He said the Panthers know they have to play with more energy at the start of their next game.

“We can’t allow ourselves to get down 10 or 15 points to start the game,” Laser said. “We really take pride in our defense. If we start our game with a good defensive effort, I know that our offense will come.”

The Panthers’ next game will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday against Manchester College at Lantz Arena.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.

Junior guard T.J. Marion dribbles toward the basket against Illinois College senior guard Brad Johnson at Lantz Arena Nov. 8. The Panthers lost Saturday against Ball State 72-59 in Muncie, Ind. (Karla Browning

(more…)