The Eastern men’s basketball team was without senior guard Romain Martin in its season opener at Toledo, but it proved not to be a problem.

Sophomore guard Jeremy Granger carried Martin’s slack, scoring 21 points, as Eastern won 72-62 Saturday.

“To get a road win to start off the season in the way we did was a great thing,” Eastern coach Mike Miller said.

The Panthers (1-0) defense forced the Rockets (0-1) to 21 turnovers and turned that into 29 points.

The Panthers lead by as many as 13 in the second half, but the Rockets kept clawing back into the game. Eastern led 52-39 with 9 minutes, 9 seconds remaining after a two-handed dunk by freshman forward Shaun Pratl, but Toledo went on a 12-2 run to cut the Eastern lead to 54-51 with 5:06 remaining.

Eastern responded with a 10-2 run including three big shots by senior forward Edin Suljic to extend the lead to 64-54 with 2:01 left in the game.

Granger hit six free throws down the stretch to close the game for the Panthers.

“It is a great sign we won the game the way we did,” Miller said. “It was a typical first game for both teams, it was not flawless, but I thought we played well. To play with the balance we did and how we answered to their run, I thought we did good.”

Earlier in the game, senior guard T.J. Marion carried the Eastern offense with three scores which gave the Panthers a 10-8 lead with 15:05 left in the first half.

Toledo responded with an 8-2 run finished with a lay-up by red-shirt freshman guard Stephen Albrecht to give the Rockets a 20-14 lead with 9:28 remaining.

Eastern battled back with three straight treys by Granger to keep the Panthers in the game and give Eastern a one-point lead with 5:41 left in the half.

The Panthers ended the half on an 11-3 run to give them a 31-25 halftime lead.

“Eastern Illinois is a very seasoned team,” said Toledo head coach Gene Cross. “They came in and did exactly what I thought they would do in terms of just being able to control the game, especially early.”

Granger, coming off a game-winning shot in an exhibition against Olivet Nazarene Tuesday, made the start for the Panthers.

Miller said he did a good job playing within himself.

“He is consistent,” Miller said. “He is a lift for our team. He may not score 20 every game, but as teams key in on (junior guard Tyler) Laser, he is making plays.”

Miller said Martin didn’t play because they are trying to rest his knee as much as possible “We are going to evaluate it again (today),” Miller said. “It has gotten better since we have rested it, but not where we want it to be. It is not a broken bone, it is just inflammation. It is not a long term thing or season ending.”

Granger led the team with 21 points, followed by Suljic with 14 and Marion with 10.

Suljic and McKinney led the team with four rebounds.

Eastern will have its home opener 7 p.m. Wednesday when they host Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis at Lantz Arena.

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