By Kristin Rojek

Sports editor

Sophomore Henry Domercant’s 38 points pulled Eastern through an 18-point deficit in the second half to defeat Southeast Missouri 84-74 Saturday night at Lantz Arena.

“The whole team – we believe we can come back,” Domercant said. “I don’t think there was a person in the gym that believed we could come back except the guys on the team and coach. And it feels good to see the guys step up and make plays and fight through adversity to come back.”

Eastern (8-7, 1-1) entered the second half with a narrow 37-33 lead, but came out in the second half to put up just six points in the first ten minutes of play. The Indians (2-10, 0-1) came into the second half with a series of three-point shots by Demetrius King to take a 39-37 lead. The Panthers would not regain control of the game until the final minutes.

Eastern managed to change tempo after calling a 30-second time out with 8:33 left on the clock. Head coach Rick Samuels adjusted Eastern’s defense to a full-court press and the Panthers headed back on the floor.

“It was the only chance we had. We were down 18 and we needed to change the tempo of the game,” Samuels said. “They were pounding it into the post. We’re rather methodical on offense. If the tempo of the game doesn’t change, we don’t have time to catch up.”

Defensive efforts were successful minutes later as Ramon Taylor stole the ball, carried it down the court and slammed it into the net. The momentum that followed gave Eastern the strength to score the final 14 points of the game.

“Ramon, when he chased it down the sideline and got the dunk, was really the play that turned the energy of the game around,” Samuels said.

That dunk brought Eastern within 10, but the defense pressure continued immediately after that. On the next SEMO possession, junior guard Craig Lewis interrupted with a steal and Domercant tipped in his miss to cut the Indians’ lead to 66-61.

“We wanted to use our depth and go 12 guys deep on the bench,” Domercant said. “Coach kept bringing in fresh people and we knew if we wanted to get back into the game we had to apply some pressure and dictate – let our defense dictate what our offense would do. Once we were able to do that, some balls started bouncing our way and we started getting momentum.”

Lewis, Taylor and Domercant combined for 12 of the final 14 points in the game. But it was two free throw shots from sophomore John Thorsen that boosted Eastern into 76-74 lead.

Then Taylor put in a leaping left handed jam sending the Lantz crowd of 2,185 into an eruption of excitement.

“Ramon is our spark plug. He’s the main guy,” Lewis said. “He’s so quick. He gets the offense going when we’re down he’s very explosive and finishes big at the rim. His defense can create so much offense for us and supply so much pressure to slow their offense down.”

Domercant wrapped up the scoring with two consecutive trips to the charity stripe. Domercant led all scoring with 38 points, shooting 4-for-8 from the three-point arc and grabbing eight boards.

Lewis finished with a double-double, scoring 18 points while racking up 10 rebounds. Sophomore Jesse Mackinson added 14 points before fouling out of the game midway through the second half.

SEMO was led by forward Drew DeMond with 18 points and guard Kenny Johnson with 17. Forward Tim Scheer also added 11 points.

“It’s good to finally get back into the winner’s column,” Domercant said. “We needed to get the team to stop moping and pouting. It’s more fun when you’re winning. We wanted to make sure our fans didn’t give up on us. We’ve taken some bumps and bruises, but by March, we’re going to make another run to go dancing.”

Semester break updates:

Dec. 31 – Austin Peay 86, Eastern 64

Eastern didn’t end 2001 with a win, dropping its first Ohio Valley Conference game to Austin Peay (7-8). Domercant put up 35 points, but it wasn’t enough to come back from a 46-30 deficit after the first half. Mackinson added 10 points, but the defensive effort struggled for the Panthers. Eastern grabbed just 28 rebounds to Austin Peay’s 45 in the game.

Dec. 29 – Northern Illinois 86, Eastern 73

The Panthers lost sophomore forward Ryan Kelly with a broken foot on the way to their third straight loss. Eastern led at the half 40-38, but shot a mere 39.4 percent from the field in the second half. Four Panthers scored double figures with Domercant leading with 22 points. Mackinson finished with 14 boards.

Dec. 22 – Ohio State 72, Eastern 59

Eastern trailed after the first half, 37-24, but matched Ohio State (7-2) with 35 points in the second half. Domercant led all scoring with 20 points, the lone Panther in double figures. Ohio State guard Brian Brown added 18 points while teammate Boban Savovic finished with 16 points. Savovic finished 4-for-5 from three-point range.

Dec. 18 – Oklahoma 109, Eastern 50

The No. 21 ranked Sooners (8-1) managed to double the Panthers’ scoring output at the half, with a 60-26 lead. It didn’t get much better in the second half as Domercant led Eastern with 20 points. Three other Panthers added six points each. Eastern shot just 30 percent from the field while Oklahoma shot 57 percent.