The Panthers overcame a slow start to beat Tennessee State University 60-48 in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.
The Panthers came in as the fourth seed, while Tennessee State is the eighth seed.
Eastern pulled away in the fourth quarter behind a 9-0 run late in the fourth. They shot 50% from the field in the fourth quarter, while TSU did not score a single point in the last five minutes of the game.
However, that is not how the game started.
Both teams started out very slow, as Eastern shot 20% from the field in the first quarter while TSU shot 25%. Neither team made a single three-point shot until the second quarter.
In the first half, Eastern had two scoring droughts that hindered the team. The Panthers stayed in the game by out rebounding TSU 28 to 18 after the first half.
“You know in the second quarter they had all the momentum. They were out playing us,” Eastern head coach Matt Bollant said. “We struggled to make shots, we were turning the ball over and I felt like the offensive rebounding kept us in that first half.”
Rebounds were not the only thing keeping the Panthers in the game. Junior forward Macy McGlone had nine points in the quarter including the first three-pointer of the game for Eastern. McGlone finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Eastern kept the momentum going in the third quarter as the team started making more baskets.
“As a coaching staff, sometimes you can overreact when things don’t go your way,” Bollant said. “We didn’t picture us having the first half we did, and I think we did a good job of we’re all right next play.”
Eastern struggled in the first half with three-pointers, as they only scored one. In the second half, they were able to shoot 37.5% from three. They were helped by junior guard Miah Monahan. In the first half, she did not take a single three-point shot.
“I guess last year I didn’t really shoot it well here,” Monahan said. “So, at first, I was hesitant of am I gonna replay that game last year, but then I had that open three in the corner in the second half, and I don’t know. It was just confidence at that point, and I was gonna do anything for my team to win this game, so I was gonna fire away.”
Eastern was able to pull away in the second half behind big runs that TSU could not stop. TSU played to their strengths on defense, but just couldn’t get shots to fall. Senior guard Sanaa’ St. Andre averaged 14.9 points a game this season but was held to only six points while shooting two for 20.
TSU head coach Ty Evans said that the shots just were not dropping even though they had good chances. TSU was able to stick to their game plan and turned the ball over 26 times on Eastern but only scored 12 points off them.
“But when you turn a team over 26 times, you only get 12 points, it’s tough to win,” Evans said. “Because that’s our M.O. That’s what we do. We turn you over.”
With the win for Eastern, they will face the number one seed University of Southern Indiana at the Ford Center on Friday at 1 p.m.
Patrick Schmitz can be reached at 581-2812 or at pfschmitz@eiu.edu.
