The Eastern men’s basketball team will step away from the Ohio Valley Conference for the ESPNU BracketBuster this weekend.

The Panthers will travel to Kalamazoo, Mich., to take on Mid-American Conference opponent Western Michigan at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Junior guard Romain Martin said he is excited for the non-conference match-up after 14 straight conference games.

“It’s going to be good. There is a different feel to non-conference games and we are excited to play up in Michigan,” Martin said.

Martin said former teammate Jon’tee “Bam” Willhite lives in Kalamazoo. He is excited to see him again and expects his former teammate to attend the game.

The Panthers are currently in a four game losing streak as they fell to Tennessee Martin 76-60 Wednesday in Lantz Arena.

Eastern coach Mike Miller said the team has not played as well offensively during the stretch and that has affected how the team has been playing defense.

“We have to find our rhythm offensively,” Miller said. “Our shots that we were making in the beginning of the year are not falling right now.”

He said in the loss to Martin, a lot of their possessions did not account for much and it is taking a toll when the team has to go back and play defense.

“Offensively, we are sloppy with the ball and we are not in sync,” Miller said.

Eastern (11-15, 8-8 OVC) will play in its fourth BracketBuster game and they will hope to end their losing streak against the Broncos (9-16, 3-10 MAC).

Western Michigan is entering the game after a 46-38 win against Eastern Michigan Wednesday and is led by senior guard David Kool, who is averaging 16.9 points per game. Shawntes Gary is second on the team averaging 10.4 points per game and leads the team with 5.4 rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard Tyler Laser is a native of Michigan and a former AAU teammate of Kool’s. He said he is excited to play his old teammate and will have lots of family and friends at the game.

This will be the third meeting between Eastern and Western Michigan, as the Panthers have never defeated the Broncos.

Eastern has secured a place in the OVC Tournament and sits in sixth place in the standings. The Panthers trail Eastern Kentucky, who sits at 10-6. UT Martin is first place in the conference with a 12-3 record.

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

Jeremy Granger, freshman guard, leaps between two Tennessee Martin defenders during Wednesday nights game in Lantz Arena. EIU lost 76-60. (Karolina Strack/The Daily Eastern News)

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