Senior guard Romain Martin, Eastern’s leading scorer for the past three years, quit the men’s basketball team Tuesday afternoon.

His departure was announced in a press release and confirmed by head coach Mike Miller.

Martin, who was coming back from a knee scope on Nov. 18, left the team because he was frustrated with not being in complete health and able to play at his full ability, he said in a press release. He wants to get healthy and finish his degree.

This announcement comes as a surprise to Martin’s teammates, who did not see his departure coming.

“I asked him ‘Did it hurt when you play out there?’ and he said he didn’t,” junior guard Tyler Laser said. “He wasn’t moving like the old Romain. He was struggling out there. He wasn’t playing as fast as he normally does. And he said he felt fine.”

“This all came as a surprise to all of us. He never really said anything to me about his injuries hurting him. He felt he was fine.”

Senior guard T.J. Marion said Martin was fun to play with on the court. Marion was a transfer student from Southeastern Illinois College and said one of the main reasons he transferred to Eastern was to play with Martin.

“I knew him when we were coming up through high school,” Marion said. “We played in an NCAA First Team (Program) together, so I met him before I got here. I am the closest with him out of anybody.”

Before the season, Marion injured his wrist and knows how tough overcoming an injury is.

“The injuries really got to him because he wasn’t used to not playing at 100 percent,” Marion said.

Miller said Martin was given the best care available while he was rehabbing.

“Our medical staff was pretty thorough as they went through this, we looked at every possible option,” Miller said. “Going into the first game at Toledo, it was still an option he could still play because he was practicing in and out at that time.”

The decision to come back and have surgery instead of red-shirting was Martin’s to make, Miller said.

For eight games, Miller took Martin’s injury day by day because each injury heals differently, depending on the player.

Playing without Martin will not affect the team, Miller said, as he pointed out his team did well without its leading scorer. “Those experiences mold a team,” he said.

Miller said there are different rotations used and they changed a little when Martin returned. Most likely, sophomore guard Jeremy Granger will play more minutes off the bench now to fill the new vacancy.

The Panthers leading scorer Martin missed the first five weeks because of the injury. He returned Dec. 22 in a limited role and has averaged 4.4 points per game in eight contests, 10.4 points below his career average.

He did not score a point in two of the last three games.

The first two seasons were not injury-free for Martin, as he hurt his wrist as his freshman year was winding down, and suffered a foot injury that slowed him down his sophomore season.

Despite the men’s confidence, Martin will be missed.

“I don’t think anybody can take his spot, but we can still win and play our best without him because we already have,” Marion said. “I think we need to get passed this right now and get closer together and like play together more.”

The men’s first matchup without No. 10 will be against rival Murray State (16-3, 8-0 Ohio Valley Conference) 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Lantz Arena.

Bob Bajek can be reached at 581-7944 or rtbajek@eiu.edu.

Senior guard Romain Martin defends Tennessee Tech sophomore forward Kevin Murphy on Jan. 4 in Lantz Arena. Head coach Mike Miller said Tuesday that Martin left the team because of personal reasons.(Amir Prellberg/The Daily Eastern News)

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