The Eastern men’s basketball team secured a 93-43 victory against Blackburn College Saturday night in Lantz Arena.

The Panthers won the tip and immediately went on 8-0 run, led by junior guard Caleb Washington, who had four of the eight points, including an electrifying dunk.  

Donaldson finished the game with a season high of 16 points and 5 assists.  

He talked about how being unselfish worked in his favor. 

“I feel like when you play the game the right way, the ball comes back to you and just trying to get everybody involved and win the game,” Donaldson said.  

The Panthers went on another run in the first half, a 16 point run, which involved multiple crowd roaring plays, including a dunk from Freshman center Kyle Thomas and a three pointer from Freshman guard Kyle Carlesimo. 

The Panthers’ defense was spontaneous this game with the team scoring 28 points from Beavers’ turnovers. Blackburn struggled to drop shots by shooting 24.1%.  The Panthers finished the half shooting 52.8% while outscoring the Beavers 45-21. 

 The Panthers great defense continued in the second half, and they finished with 10 steals.  

Head Coach, Marty Simmons, said the Panthers’ defense played a major roll in the win over the Beavers as the Panthers have been consistent with making points off of the other teams’ turnovers.

“We’ve got some athletic guys that have good hands, and we’re pretty aggressive,” Simmons said. “Sincere [Malone], Caleb [Donaldson], Kinyon [Hodges], that’s kind of on them. They’ve gotten a lot of good [and] individual talent there and participation. That’s been a big part of our defense, scoring off our defense.” 

Simmons also said that Donaldson has been getting more confident every game. 

“He’s a guy that I think can score from all three levels,” Simmons said. He gets out in transntion, I thought he finished well in the transition game. He can get an air tight range, he’s got good pivots and [can] keep guys off balance.” 

Simmons also said Donaldson has the ability to shoot three point shots and really likes how he is able to be get other players involved and being able to see things and make the assists.  

The Panthers now hold a record of 2-7 and will face Ball State at Lantz Arena on Wednesday.

Cam’ron Hardy can be reached at 581-2812 or cahardy@eiu.edu