The Eastern men’s basketball team will have their fourth home game this Saturday afternoon against Division III North Park at 2 p.m. 

The Panthers are 1-2 at home and 1-7 overall following a 55-45 loss to Northern Illinois on Wednesday evening. Fifth year guard Kashawn Charles led the Panthers against the Huskies, scoring 15 points to go along with two assists.  

Junior forward Jermaine Hamlin followed closely behind with 12 points and was 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Hamlin currently ranks second in the OVC and 35th nationally for blocks with 19 on the season, averaging 2.4 a game. 

 Freshmen forward Paul Bizimana led the Panthers in rebounds against the Huskies with seven. The Panthers are currently sixth in the OVC for rebounding offense, averaging 36.1 rebounds per game and tenth for rebounding defense with 38.9 per game. 

Turnovers continue to be an issue for the Panthers this season. They are averaging 18 turnovers per game. Against the Huskies, the Panthers accumulated 16 turnovers, allowing the Huskies to score 18 points off of their turnovers. The Panthers now have 126 turnovers on the season. 

The Vikings are 3-2 overall and are coming off a 66-63 win over Earlham College. The Vikings had three players in double digits in their win over the Quakers. 

Senior forward Jordan Boyd led the Vikings over the Quakers with 16 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Senior guard Izaiah Sander followed behind with 14 points and five rebounds. Both senior forward Jalen Boyd and junior guard Gabe Johnson had six rebounds with Boyd contributing 11 points. 

The Vikings are averaging 80 points per game with sophomore guard Michael Osborne leading the team with 82 points on the season and is averaging 16.4 points per game. 

The field goal percentage for the Vikings stands at .497 on the season along with .288 3-point percentage. 

The Vikings are very similar to the Panthers in regard to turnovers as they are averaging 19.4 per game and have 97 turnovers on the season with a –3.4 turnover margin.  

The last time the Panthers faced off against a Division III team was against Rockford. The Panthers had six players in double figures with a 96-64 victory. The Regents ended the game with a 36.1 field goal percentage and a 37.5 3-point percentage.  

Autumn Schulz can be reached at 581-2812 or acschulz@eiu.edu.