After starting the season out on a blistering pace, the Panther men’s basketball team has finally been humbled over the course of the last few days.

The Panthers entered last week with an 8-2 conference record. They had two of the top 10 scorers in the nation and were the nation’s best free throw shooting team.

And then they found out exactly how tough life on the road in the Ohio Valley Conference can be. Eastern ran into a Tennessee-Martin team that has been hovering around mediocrity and promptly lost 85-71.

Two days later the Panthers traveled to Murray, Ky., and fell to Murray State 92-77 on national television.

Monday night was exactly what the Panthers needed. Eastern returned home to Lantz Gymnasium, a place where they have not lost since last season.

The “Panther Palace” did not disappoint and helped Eastern to an 80-71 victory over conference leader Tennessee Tech.

Now the real fun begins.

The win moved the Panthers into a tie for second place with Austin Peay and put four teams within a game of the league lead with just two weeks to go in the regular season.

The good news in all of this is that the worst is behind the Panthers. The Panthers have three games left against three of the OVC’s bottom feeders, Southeast Missouri State, Morehead State and Eastern Kentucky.

The three teams have a combined conference record of 10-27. Southeast Missouri State stands at 5-8, while Morehead State is 5-7 and Eastern Kentucky remains winless with an 0-12 conference record.

With the way this season has been going in the OVC, there is no guarantee that Eastern will win its final three games. It was less than a week ago that the Panthers fell to a 5-7 Tennessee-Martin team, but this schedule certainly gives them a better chance than others. And the fact that two of those final three games are home games for Eastern is definitely helping also.

The conference’s other top teams do not have it so good. Austin Peay still has to travel to Tech while Tech still has to travel to Murray State. Murray State probably has it the best out of anybody, traveling to Morehead State before closing out the season at home against Tennessee State and Tech.

“Tech probably has one of the most difficult schedules,” Panther head coach Rick Samuels said. “The good thing for us is that Tech, Austin Peay and Murray all still have to play each other.”

The Panthers went 1-2 last week, but more importantly, the worst part of their schedule is now behind them.

There is no such thing as an automatic win in the OVC this year. That has been proven in just the past week with the Panthers losing to Martin and then turning around beating Tech.

But what this does is give Eastern a chance to collect a few wins while Murray, Tech and Peay beat on each other and hopefully knock each other out of contention for the conference title.

While those three teams are in head-to-head competition all week, if the Panthers just keep doing what they are supposed to do and beat the teams they are supposed to beat they could find themselves atop the conference standings at the end of the week.

There are no guarantees. But it sure does make it easier knowing what lies ahead is not nearly as bad as what is already behind you.