Senior guard L.C. Doss showed off his offensive skill set against Olivet Nazarene Sunday, scoring 13 points and finishing 5-7 on shooting.

Doss missed 10 games last season because of injury. He averaged 4.6 points in 21 minutes of action.

Doss said he concentrated on getting completely healthy during this off-season.

“I just tried to get my legs back under me,” Doss said.

Doss scored 13 points against Olivet Nazarene and showed he could do a little bit of everything on the offensive side of the ball.

He shot 5-7 from the field including 1-3 from beyond the three-point arc. He also was 2-2 from the free-throw line.

Doss said he played pretty well, but had a few mental lapses on defense that need to be cleaned up. He said he thinks he could provide the Panthers with an offensive spark for the season.

Spurts give Eastern lead

The Panthers went on a 17-0 in the first half against Olivet Nazarene to open up a 19-point lead and never looked back.

The run started with two free throws by freshman guard Austin Akers with 7:44 remaining in the half.

Red-shirt junior forward James Hollowell quickly added a fast-break dunk and the run finished with a fast-break lay-up by senior guard Jeremy Granger.

Eastern would go on 16-2 run in the second half to open up a 28-point lead.

The closest the Tigers would come from that point on was 24 points.

Miller pleased with efforts in exhibition game

Head coach Mike Miller said he was happy with how the team preformed against Olivet Nazarene.

The two teams played in 2009 and Eastern snuck past with a two-point victory; however, this result was the same, but done in a more convincing fashion.

The Panthers won the game 78-48.

“We had a good energy,” Miller said. “We used a lot of people and I thought we had a chance to see what different guys can do and what they bring to the table.”

Eastern played five of its seven new players and every player was able to score.

The group of five combined for 31 points. Freshman forward Josh Piper led the newcomers with nine points and six rebounds.

Miller said the team needs to improve on its post defense and rebounding before the start of the season on Friday against Indiana State.

“I want to see our team get better,” Miller said. “Guys are going to be able to play to their strengths, we have not set limits for how good we can be, we just want to keep moving forward.”

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