The Panthers recorded a 27% field goal percentage in their 66-49 loss to Tennessee State Thursday Night at Grongier Arena. 

This is the second lowest field goal percentage the Panthers recorded this season as their worst was 26.9% against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

“We didn’t play with a lot of poise, we got to the rim but didn’t finish,” Eastern’s head coach Marty Simmons said. “That’s been our achilles heel for the team. We shoot a low percentage at the rim.” 

The Panthers shot 26% from the field in the second half.

“We aren’t shooting well but we just got to focus and try to knock the next one down,” graduate forward Kooper Jacobi said. 

Jacobi led Eastern in scoring with 12 and added five rebounds.

Eastern went 1 of 9 from behind the arc in the second half, finishing the game shooting 14%.

Last time out against the Tigers, the Panthers took a 84-65 loss in Nashville where they shot 39% from the field.

The first half was highly competitive with nine lead changes, and the Tigers took a 23-21 lead into the half.

Eastern took the lead early in the second half with points off turnovers from senior guard NaKyel Shelton and Jacobi.

The Tigers took away the Panthers’ momentum by going on a 9-0 run that was ignited by two made free throws from junior guard Aaron Nkrumah after a foul from Eastern’s senior forward Rodolfo Bolis. 

Eastern ended the game with a total of 21 personal fouls.

“We fouled shooters,” Simmons said. “That’s in our scouting report every game and being able to pressure shooters with fouling, little like that hurt us.”

Tennessee State shot 85% on free throws in the second half on 21 attempts. The Tigers shot 24-31 from the free throw line the entirety of the game.

Nkrumah shot a perfect eight of eight on free throws for the Tigers and finished with 13 points.

On a positive note for the Panthers, junior guard Obadiah Curtis scored 10 points off the bench, his fourth time in the last five games. 

“It was good, but I felt like I didn’t do enough with rebounding the basketball.” Curtis said. 

Curtis finished the game shooting 3-7 from the field and 2-3 from beyond the arch. 

Despite a tough outing, the confidence is still high for the Panthers.

“We got to stay positive, we know what we are pushing for right now, to get into the tournament and we know we can compete with anyone in the conference.” graduate guard Artese Stapleton said. 

Junior guard Zion Fruster was another Panther in double digits with 10 points and had a game high of seven rebounds.

This loss moves the Panthers to 8-18 overall on the season and 4-11 in Ohio Valley Conference play as they remain ninth in the conference standings.

While Tennessee State recorded a 13-13 record overall thus far, this win places them fifth in OVC standings with a 9-6 record

Eastern’s next game will be Saturday against University of Tenneseee-Martin at Grongier Arena.

Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Cameron Thomas can be reached at 581-2812 or at densportsdesk@gmail.com.