The Eastern men’s basketball team will host Saint Francis (Ill.) in an exhibition game at 7 p.m. Monday in Lantz Arena.

Jay Spoonhour enters his third season as the head coach of the Panthers, who posted 11-21 and 11-19 records in his first two years, respectively. The Panthers also had back-to-back Ohio Valley Conference tournament apearances.

Eastern returns 10 players from last year, five whom started 12 or more games last season.

Guard Reggie Smith started 24 games earning All-OVC Newcomer Team honors.   Fellow backcourt teammate Dylan Chatman made 19 starts for the Panthers.  Eastern also returns post players Josh Piper (15 starts), Luke Piotrowski (14 starts) and Keenen Anderson (12 starts) to that group.

However, the Panthers did lose forward Sherman Blanford from last year, who lead the team with 14.5 points and eight rebounds per game, on the way to earning All-OVC Second Team honors.

Eastern will have four newcomers on this year’s roster with freshman guard Cornell Johnston joining three other junior college transfers in forward Trae Anderson and guards LeTrell Viser and Luke Norman.

Following the regular-season opener on Nov. 14 at Missouri State, Eastern will return home to Lantz Arena for two games.

The home opener for the Panthers is Nov. 17 against Eureka College. Eastern then hosts UC Davis on Thursday, Nov. 20. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. in Lantz Arena.

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