Eastern’s men’s basketball team was unable to recover from its ice-cold shooting to start the game, losing to Tennessee State 55-46 on Thursday.

The Panthers shot just 31 percent in the first half; however, freshman guard Joey Miller was the only offense Eastern had in the first half. Miller had 17 of the team’s 23 points in the first half, including a buzzer beating three-point shot to end the half 23-29.

At this point, head coach Mike Miller said the team was very fortunate to be down only six.

“We told our guys, ‘we are pretty lucky here, we haven’t shot well and we are only down two possessions,'” Mike Miller said.

Eastern would cut the Tigers lead to one point with 14 minutes left in the game, but a deflating run by Tennessee State would put the Panthers back into a six point hole. Sophomore forward Kenny Moore grabbed an offensive rebound and found junior forward Robert Covington in the paint for a jumper. Then a missed lay-up by Joey Miller led to a transition three-point shot by senior guard Wil Peters.

The run put Tennessee State up 46-40 with five minutes left in the game and they would remain at least four points up for the rest of the game.

Mike Miller said the game came down to missed shots and the team not being able to make plays when they needed to.

For the game, the Panthers shot 36 percent including 3-of-21 from beyond the three-point line.

Joey Miller said the team had a tough time adjusting to the Tigers switching every screen, which led to some stagnant offense and settling for outside shots.

Senior guard Jeremy Granger had a tough shooting night like most of the Panthers. He shot 5-of-13 from the field and was unable to connect on four attempts from behind the three-point line. He finished the game with 10 points and four rebounds.

Granger said Tennessee State did a good job defensively, but he needs to do more to help his team out of their offensive struggles.

“I need to be a leader for my team,” Granger said. “I need to help my team stay poised and I didn’t do that tonight. I have to focus on doing a better job leading the team.”

Mike Miller said the offensive woes hurt the teams in many ways.

“When you can’t put enough points on the board it puts too much pressure on your defense,” Miller said. “Every little play and every little break down is monumental.”

Tennessee State was led by red-shirt junior forward Kellen Thornton, who scored 14 points and grabbed six rebounds off the bench.

With the loss, Eastern’s falls to 9-8 overall and 2-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, while Tennessee State improves to 11-10 and 4-4 in the OVC.

The Panthers return to action Saturday against Austin Peay. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena.

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