The Panther men’s basketball team continued to work through its growing pains last week, as Eastern finished 1-3 in the Las Vegas Invitational.

“It certainly was good competition,” head coach Rick Samuels said. “We struggled with confidence in certain games, and particularly with just shooting the ball.”

Eastern (2-3) opened up the tournament against No. 2 ranked Illinois at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. The Panthers stayed close in the opening minutes, but a huge first-half run gave the Fighting Illini a 48-23 halftime lead and a 93-53 win.

“They played very good, solid defense, and they were very physical,” junior guard Henry Domercant said following the lopsided loss. “They helped each other out on defense, they took us out of our offense and got us out of our rhythm. They basically made our offense run horrible.”

Preseason Big 10 Player of the Year Cory Bradford led the Illini (5-0) with 18 points. Freshman phenom Luther Head chipped in 14 for Illinois while Damir Krupalijia was perfect from the field for 12 points.

Domercant led Eastern with 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting. Junior J.R. Reynolds was the only other Panther in double figures with 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting. Eastern shot just 27 percent from the field and was out-rebounded 45-31.

“Illinois defends a lot harder than we do in practice,” Samuels said. “Illinois is very good. If they defend that aggressively against everybody they play, they’ll do very well.”

Following the loss, the tournament shifted to Las Vegas where the Panthers continued pool play against Georgia Tech (3-3). The Yellow Jackets downed Eastern, 70-65. The Panthers were ahead most of the first half and led by as many as nine.

But Tech built a 57-46 lead in the second half, but Eastern cut the lead to 66-65 after Reynolds converted on a four-point play. That would be as close as the Panthers would get as they turned the ball over with four seconds remaining, while Tech made four free throws in the final seven seconds to seal the five-point win.

Domercant led Eastern with 18 while Reynolds scored 14 and sophomore Jesse Mackinson chipped in 13. Eastern’s shooting woes continued as they made just 31 percent of their