Silence is the only word that could describe the state of Lantz Arena after Morehead State’s Angelo Warner hit the game-winning free throw with 2.2 seconds left on the clock.

Down nine with just under three minutes to play Eastern’s men’s basketball team began a ferocious comeback attempt. Senior guard Jeremy Granger showed his leadership as he made a three point shot to catapult the Panthers run. A Morehead miss led to another three-point shot, this time by freshman guard Joey Miller, which cut the lead to 52-49.

After a couple free throws by Lamont Austin, Miller hit another three that sent the fans to their feet.

Now down 54-52, a once intimidating lead was easily manageable with 45 seconds left in the game. All the Panthers needed was a mistake.

After Morehead’s guard Ty Profitt made 1-of-2 free throws the Panthers were one shot away from tying the game. Which is where Granger wants to be. Stepping into a three-point shot with 19 seconds left Granger fond nothing but the bottom of the net and Lantz Arena went wild.

They had done it. Despite being on a seven-game losing-streak the Panthers had found a way to tie the defending Ohio Valley Conference champions all they needed was a stop on defense. A gutsy decision was made by the Eagles head coach Donnie Tyndall to not call a timeout and setup a final play.

Instead Tyndall made the call from the sideline leaving Eastern’s offense heavy line-up on the court.

The Eagles isolated Lamont on Miller at the top of the key and Lamont missed a running jump-shot in the lane; however, Warner was in the right place at the right time a grabbed the biggest offensive rebound of the night.

Smothered by Panther defenders Warner jumped into a crowd and came away with a foul on Eastern red-shirt junior forward James Hollowell.

Warner stepped to the line. Every Panther fan in the arena was yelling at the top of their lungs. He shot. The ball clanked off the front of the rim, giving the fans and more importantly the players a glimmer of hope.

Granger said he was begging for Warner to miss the second shot.

“I was thinking we can go into overtime or maybe hit a big shot to win,” Granger said.

But Warner was not on the same page as Granger. He hit the second free throw and knock the wind out of Lantz Arena. Granger threw up a last second heave, but it missed everything and the Panther lost their eighth consecutive game 56-55.

In a game, where the Panthers statistically out-played Morehead State in many areas, head coach Mike Miller said the game came down to free throws. Eastern was out shot 22-to-6 at the free throw line, as the Eagles made 17 of those shots, while the Panthers made only four.

Mike Miller said the team played the way the wanted to for most of the game.

“You look at those kids and how hard they played, they deserved to win,” Mike Miller said.

With the loss the Panthers fall to 9-14 overall and 2-9 in the OVC, while Morehead State improves to 13-12 overall and 6-5 in conference play.

Eastern was led by Granger and Joey Miller with 17 and 15 points respectively. Miller shot 5-of-12 from beyond the three-point line.

Morehead State was led by Drew Kelly, Milton Chavis and Proffitt who each had 11 points.

Joey Miller said this is a tough loss to take but the team has to move forward.

Granger said despite the recent struggles the Panthers won’t count themselves out of anything, including the conference tournament.

“You never count yourself out, you never say ‘we can’t make it’, you always want to come out and go as hard as you can and try to win every game,” Granger said.

The Panthers return to action Thursday when they go on the road to face OVC rival Tennessee Tech. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. In Cookville, Tenn.

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