Defense is what coach Jay Spoonhour has been preaching to the Eastern men’s basketball team all season.

In its last two games, it has perhaps been the most evident all season.

The Panthers are coming off two, seemingly meaningless non-conference games, against Northern Illinois and Chicago State. But in those non-conference games, Eastern has allowed 50 points or less in each game.

The Panthers beat the Huskies 59-47 while holding them to 36.5 percent shooting.

The Panthers then followed that up with a 58-50 win against the Cougars. The Panthers held the Cougars to 30.8 percent shooting.

Final regular-season game

Eastern will now host Southern Illinois Edwardsville at 4 p.m. Saturday in Lantz Arena, as both will be vying for a spot in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

Edwardsville beat Eastern 49-45 at home on Feb. 2.

It was Eastern’s worst offensive output of the season, as it scored a season low. The Panthers also shot 5.9 percent from 3-point range (1-of-17) and 36.4 percent from the free throw line (4-of-11).

Aside from junior guard Morris Woods’ 16 points, on 8-of-15 shooting, no other Panther eclipsed six points in the game.

Austin OVC’s top freshman

Freshman guard Alex Austin earned his fifth Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Week award after guiding the Panthers to in their two-game split last week.

The 6-foot, 4-inch guard averaged nine points; two rebounds and one steal per game last week. He shot 85.7 percent from the free throw line.

Austin scored 10 points; grabbed two steals and blocked one shot in Eastern’s loss to OVC-leader Belmont. He then scored eight points and hauled in four rebounds in Eastern’s BracketBuster win over Northern.

The Chicago native has scored in double-digits in six of the Panthers’ last seven games.

Austin leads all freshmen in the OVC in scoring with nine points per game. He is also 14th in the OVC in 3-point shooting percentage.

Canaan and Clark receive national recognition

Senior guards Isaiah Canaan and Ian Clark of Murray State and Belmont have both been named to the 2013 Naismith Award Midseason Top 30 watch list.

The award goes to the top player in men’s college basketball. Canaan and Clark are the only two Ohio Valley Conference players to make it to the top 30.

Canaan is the reigning OVC Player of the Year. He was also a unanimous All-American in the 2011-12 season.

He leads the OVC in scoring with 21.1 points per game, and he is eighth in the conference in assists with 4.2 per game. He is one of two OVC players inside the top 10 in scoring and assists.

Meanwhile, Clark is second in the conference in scoring with 19.4 points per game. He is first in the OVC in 3-point field goal percent with 49.4. He also makes an average of 3.1 3-pointers per game.

“I am excited to see which of these great players emerges down the stretch to win this award and become the newest member of the Naismith Awards family,” Shane Battier said in a press release.

Battier is the spokesperson for the Naismith Awards, and is the only men’s player to win both a high school (1997) and college (2001) Naismith Trophy.

Anthony Catezone can be reached at 581-2812 or ajcatezone@eiu.edu.