The men’s basketball team won its 20th straight game in Lantz Arena with a miraculous 72-71 win over Morehead State in the final seconds of play.

“This is an intimidating place to come in and play,” head coach Rick Samuels said. “The 20 wins in a row is partly because of the arena. When the students get involved, this is a tough place to play and a fun place for the home team.”

With six seconds left on the clock and Eastern down 71-69, Morehead’s Ike Lopez fouled junior forward Henry Domercant’s three-point attempt. The nation’s No. 3 scorer stepped up to the charity stripe, sinking all three shots to win the game.

“No doubt,” Samuels said of the Domercant at the line. “In fact, after he made two, I was so confident that he would make the third that I wanted our defense to get back.”

But it wasn’t all confidence throughout the game. Eastern was down as much as eight with a minute and a half on the clock and it seemed as if all hope was lost.

“Well, I’ll tell you, I was scared,” Samuels said. “I thought when they had that run that got them up eight, Henry looked tired. I guess he wasn’t as tired as he looked.”

Six points down, intensity increased for the Panthers, but it exploded in junior guard Ramon Taylor. Officials called a technical foul on both him and Morehead State’s freshman guard Ramon Kelly. Samuels left Taylor in the game and the emotions settled down on the court.

Taylor stepped to the line for two more points, but Morehead State took the rebound and headed down the court. Eastern’s defense stepped up for a turnover and Domercant reached out for a three-point shot with 1:12 left in the game.

Eastern called a time out, but when the Panthers stepped back on the court, Domercant found another three-pointer to tie the game 69-69.

With 14 seconds on the clock, Taylor fouled Morehead guard Marquis Sykes, who continued the Eagles’ perfect performance at the charity stripe for a 71-69 Eagles advantage.

But Eastern’s offense found Domercant at the line for the only shots that mattered in the end.

“These are my rims,” Domercant said. “They owe me something. I spend so much time with them.”

Domercant finished the game with 33 points, shooting a perfect 9-for-9 at the line. Junior guard Craig Lewis added 13 points and led the team with 8 rebounds. Lewis also shot 6-for-9 from the field.

“I thought Craig played really well,” Samuels said. “His defense was outstanding. I thought the last two games for Craig have been as good as he has played in his career.”

Morehead’s offensive efforts were led by senior forward Kyle Umberger with 17 points while sophomore guard Ricky Minard finished with 14 points. Minard has been leading Morehead with an average of 21.4 points per game, but was kept to just two in the first half.

“Some of the guys on our team took it as a personal challenge (to defend Minard),” Domercant said. “Our coach has been hyping him up all week and saying how good he was and how much of a scorer he was. It was one of the game keys and we were able to stop him.”

The Panthers dominated the first half of play, but was able to jump out to a mere nine-point lead, but headed into the locker room with a four-point advangate, 28-24.

Another win could be tacked onto the 20-game home streak Saturday when Eastern welcomes Eastern Kentucky to Lantz Arena.

“They’re young and they’re not very big,” Samuels said of Eastern Kentucky.

Eastern tips off with Eastern Kentucky at 7:10 p.m. Saturday.