After holding as much as a 15-point lead in the second half, the Eastern men’s basketball team held on for its fourth win of the season against Western Illinois.

The game was starting to look familiar to the Panthers, as they had lost their two previous games when they had substantial leads in the second half, but this time they were able to hang on for a 61-58 win.

The win improves the Panthers record to 4-6 overall, while Western falls to 5-5 on the season.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said even though they had lost two games in a row, the team had to focus on the task at hand.

“We kept telling our guys you’re OK, you’re in a possession game,” Miller said. “We put five guys out there who finished games a year ago; they closed out a lot of close games.”

Junior guard Jeremy Granger said it’s natural to think about the two losses when you are in a similar situation.

“(The two consecutive losses) always start to creep up in your mind, but you try and not let it get to you and stay poised on the court,” Granger said.

James Hollowell, a sophomore red-shirt, recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. He also added one block and one steal.

“We played good most of the game. We just got to find a way to close it off better and keep fighting all the way until the end,” Hollowell said.

At the half, Eastern held a 34-29 lead, while shooting 50 percent from the field. The Panthers went on a run as the second half started and opened up a 15-point lead with 13 minutes left in the game.

Western had trouble making free throws down the stretch as they went 11-of-24 for the game. One area that helped the Panthers get the lead was rebounding. The Panthers out-rebounded the Leathernecks 38-29.

With under a minute to play in regulation, the Panthers were up six points, but when Hollowell fouled forward Jack Houpt while shooting a three Western was able to trim the lead to three points after Houpt made all three shots.

“I have to quit (fouling). It was just a bad play on my part,” Hollowell said.

Two free throws by Granger on the next Panther possession put Eastern ahead by five; however, the Leathernecks leading scorer Matt Landers hit a three-point shot to cut the lead down to two.

Hollowell then went 1-of-2 from the line and extended the Panther lead to three. The Panthers forced center Kaimarr Price to launch a deep three-point shot that just bounced off the back of the rim as time expired.

Miller said if he could of pick a player on the other team to shoot the final shot, it would have been Price; however, he said he got a scare when he saw the shot go up.

“I’ve gotten pretty good at following the trajectory of the ball, and from my angle I thought it was in,” Miller said.

Miller said this was a good win and the team is improving, but he said he thinks it is nowhere close to its full potential.

“We have played much better basketball,” Miller said. “We are playing (good) for longer stretches, now when we hit that 10-minute mark we have got to take it up another gear.”

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or rdmortell@eiu.edu.

Jeremy Granger, a junior guard, goes up for the shot against Western Illinois Saturday evening in Lantz Arena. (Audrey Sawyer

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