Eastern’s men’s basketball team is now one full game behind the University of Tennessee-Martin for the eighth and final spot in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

For the Panthers to make the tournament they need to win their final two OVC games at Austin Peay and at Tennessee State. Austin Peay is currently 11-5 in the OVC, while Tennessee State is 8-8. Both team have impressive OVC records at home; Austin Peay is 8-3 at home and Tennessee is 8-2. The Panthers are 3-9 on the road this season in conference games.

The last time Eastern missed the OVC tournament was in 2008.

Murray State leads the OVC at 12-3, followed closely behind Morehead State at 11-4, Austin Peay 11-5 and Tennessee Tech 11-6.

The tournament starts March 2 and goes through March 5, with the winning team automatically qualifying for the NCAA tournament. Eastern has not made an NCAA appearance since 2002 where they lost to the No. 2 seed Arizona in the first round.

ESPNU Bracketbusters

Eastern is headed to Toledo for its annual ESPNU Bracketbuster game on Saturday. It is the fourth time in six years since participating in the event that the Panthers will take on a team from the Mid-American Conference.

Eastern is 2-3 in Bracketbuster games; however, it has won its last two match-ups. The last time Toledo and Eastern squared off, Eastern won 72-62 with junior guard Jeremy Granger scoring 21 points.

Around the OVC

Morehead State senior forward Kenneth Faried won OVC Player of the Week for the third consecutive week and seventh time this season. Over the past week, he averaged 20.5 points, 14.5 rebounds, 3.5 steals and two blocks in two games.

Faried also needs 21 rebounds to pass Tim Duncan as the NCAA best rebounder since 1973. He also had his jersey retired before the game against Southeast Missouri.

Southeast Missouri forward Leon Powell won the OVC newcomer of the week for the second consecutive week.

He averaged 14 points and nine rebounds in three games last week.

Austin Peay freshman forward Will Triggs won the OVC Freshman of the Week for scoring a career-high 25 points in his second career start.

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