With a final score like 74-53, it would be unbelievable to think that Eastern, at any point, led in Monday’s game against Southeast Missouri. The Panthers did lead, by five, at halftime.

The Panthers went into the locker room at the end of the first half leading the second-place team in the Ohio Valley Conference by a score of 36-31. However, the team that took the floor in the second half was a completely different team. The Panthers would fall flat in the second half, scoring only 17 points to Southeast Missouri’s 43 en route to a 74-53 loss.

“I just told our team it was like watching two different teams play that game,” Eastern head coach Mike Miller said. “The team in the first half, that’s what we wanted, that’s what we were after.”

Miller said that in the first half, his team was doing the things they talked about needing to do.

“The first half, I was pretty pleased. I thought we played with good energy,” he said. “In the second half, right now, off the top of my head, I can’t think of anything in the second half that we were supposed to do.”

Junior guard Marland Smith shot 5-of-10 shots from beyond the three-point line, finishing the game as the Redhawks’ leading scorer with 19 total points.

“Marland Smith has had big games against us, he’s played well,” Miller said.

Smith, who is one of the OVC’s top three three-point shooters, made 7-of-10 three-point shots in the two teams’ first meeting on Jan. 14, which Southeast Missouri also won, 80-73.

Miller said Smith is a big reason behind Southeast Missouri’s success.

“I think their team is as strong as they are because obviously they’ve got a guy that makes shots in Marland Smith,” he said.

With the loss, the Panthers drop their sixth straight game, bringing their record to 9-12 overall and 2-7 in the OVC. The team faces a tough upcoming scheduling, taking on some of the conference’s top talent in Eastern Kentucky and Morehead State, each with only one day of rest in between each game.

“It definitely is difficult losing,” senior Zavier Sanders said. “All we can do is try to keep working harder and get through this.”

Sanders, who finished the game with eight points, said the team’s second-half performance was critical.

“The second half is what cost us the game.”

The Panthers will take on the Eastern Kentucky Colonels at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 in Lantz Arena. The Colonels are 5-5 against OVC teams and 12-11 overall.

Dominic Renzetti can be reached at 581-7942 or dcrenzetti@eiu.edu.