Seven wins.

Eastern coach Jay Spoonhour said he believes his men’s basketball team will need seven wins to get into the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

‘But really you just don’t know,” he said. “You just try to get as many (wins) as you can.”

At 6-6, the Panthers are the No. 6 seed in the OVC standings, but a 74-68 loss to Southeast Missouri Saturday in Lantz Arena can prove to be detrimental to their postseason hopes.

“Every loss is hard, but this is a game we should have won,” Eastern forward Sherman Blanford said.

The Panthers ended the Redhawks’ three-game OVC losing streak and dropped from second to third in the west division.

With four conference games remaining, seven wins is an evident possibility.

But that task becomes even harder when those final four games are dissected.

For example, all four games are on the road, where Eastern is 3-8 this season. Also, Eastern will travel to both Belmont and Murray State, the OVC’s top two teams, which have a combined record of 19-4 in conference.

“You try to just get one (win),” Spoonhour said. “And the once you get one, see if you can get another one somewhere.”

Around the OVC

Behind five double figure scorers, Belmont men’s basketball routed Austin Peay 93-68 Saturday.

Belmont jumped out to a 20-8 lead eight minutes into the game.

After Austin Peay closed to within 31-29, the Bruins’ J.J. Mann and Reece Chamberlain sparked a 22-7 run that pushed their lead to 53-36 with 2:02 left in the first half.

Mann had 22 first-half points.

However, to begin the second half, the Governors used a 12-0 run to pull within five points.

Three-pointers from Nick Smith and Drew Windler and a Craig Bradshaw layup extended the Belmont lead back to 61-49 with 15:21 remaining.

From there, Chamberlain and Evan Bradds spearheaded another Bruin scoring run that stretched the margin to 76-53 with 10:40 remaining.

Murray State built a 13-point lead and held on for a 73-65 win over Tennessee State Saturday at the Gentry Center in Nashville, Tenn.

The win pushed the Racers to 14-9 overall and 9-2 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers lead the OVC west division ahead of second place Southern Illinois-Edwardsville at 6-5.

Jonathan Fairell scored a career-high 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field to go with seven rebounds.

Jarvis Williams and Cameron Payne each added 16 points. Williams recorded his 11th double-double of the season while Payne led the Racers with six assists.

The Racers hit 3-pointers from Payne and Jeffery Moss for a 9-3 run and a 25-16 lead with 8:25 remaining in the first half.

When T.J. Sapp made a 3-pointer and Moss finished a fast break, the Racers were up by 13 at the 3:28 mark. But Tennessee State chipped away and Murray State’s lead at the half was 37-28.

Fairell scored the Racers’ first six points in the second half and Payne added a 3-pointer to keep Murray State in front by nine points with 15:42 left.

The Racer’s lead went to 13 again (60-47) with 8:20 remaining. They survived an offensive slowdown, but still led by eight with 1:51 left on a Fairell fast break dunk.

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