Eastern men’s basketball team finished the winter break with a record of 2-3, bringing its overall record to 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Saturday, the Panthers traveled to Houston Baptist for a non-conference match-up. They had little trouble with the independent Division-I team, as they won 74-62.

Five Panthers scored in double figures. Leading the team was senior forward Zavier Sanders, who scored 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting. Sanders also pulled down a team-high of nine rebounds.

Senior guard Jeremy Granger and freshman guard Joey Miller scored 12 points each, while senior guard L.C. Doss scored 11 and freshman forward Josh Piper scored 10.

Eastern started off slow trailing 26-30 at halftime; however, a huge second half would lead it to its second straight win.

The Panthers dominated with a 48-32 performance in the second half and cooled down the hot shooting Houston Baptist with solid defense.

After shooting 56 percent from the field in the first half, the Panthers defense buckled down and held Houston Baptist to 32 percent shooting in the second half, including 1-for-8 from the three-point line.

Houston Baptist was led by Joe Latas who scored 13 points.

Eastern controlled the game with impressive rebounding, holding a sizable 40-to-30 advantage on the glass.

Although the Panthers shot just 40 percent for the game, their defense stepped up forcing 18 turnovers. Sanders was extremely active, stealing the ball five times.

The win improves Eastern’s non-conference record to 7-5 and Houston Baptist falls to 5-10 overall.

Eastern was able to grab its first OVC win this season with a 73-59 win over newly inducted Southern Illinois-Edwardsville.

Prior to the win over SIU-E, the Panthers were on a four game losing streak that started at Western Illinois. The stretch of games included some tough competition.

On Dec. 18, Eastern took on a Big 10 opponent in Northwestern, but came away empty handed losing 72-87. The Panthers then traveled to Maine for a second game against the University of Maine; however, they fell just short losing 60-64.

The Panthers then hosted their first OVC game of the season against No. 18 Murray State. The Racers proved to be too much for Eastern to handle that night as it lost 40-73. Murray State remains one of the last undefeated teams in all of Division-I basketball with a record of 16-0.

The Panthers return to action Thursday for a home game against the Tennessee-Martin.

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