The men’s basketball team took a break from Ohio Valley Conference play Monday night to play host to Division III Benedictine University in a 77-47 win in Lantz Arena.

“Coming into a game like this after coming into three exciting conference games, it’s hard to get up for a game like this,” junior guard J.R. Reynolds said. “It’s basically just taking care of business and doing what you have to do. We took care of business.”

Playing a Division III team allowed Eastern to look at the game a little differently than playing a Division I opponent.

“When you play a low division team, you’re automatically going to be more athletic and bigger than them, and one of the keys in that game is to dominate the boards,” senior forward Todd Bergmann said. “You have to control both sides of the glass.”

Eastern maintained control of the court in its 22nd consecutive win in Lantz Arena, as it lead by as many as 14 points in the first half. The Panthers headed into the locker room with a 33-19 advantage.

“I thought we were down about two degrees,” head coach Rick Samuels said. “We were a little flat. In the first half we had a few shots that normally I think would have gone down that didn’t.”

The Panthers weren’t as lenient in the second half, slowly building up a 34-point lead over Benedictine.

Junior forward Henry Domercant finished the game with five assists, passing the points around the court to his teammates. Domercant is the OVC player of the week.

“I think that (is almost) a career high for Henry, and I’m not saying that sarcastically,” Bergmann said. “He’s a shooter first. He was looking for his teammates a little more tonight. With Andrew (Gobczynski) and J.R. (Reynolds) getting more minutes, they’re naturally going to put up more points.”

Domercant led the team in points (23) and rebounds (9), but Eastern saw help from his teammates as well. Reynolds scored nine points while grabbing six rebounds and sophomore center Jesse Mackinson finished with 13 points.

“J.R. looks good playing,” Samuels said. “We just need to get him back into the flow.

Benedictine forwards Mike Lind and Bryan Uselding led Benedictine with 11 points each.

Eastern was able to set up different options Monday night against Benedictine in their final non-conference matchup, but the Panthers will now emerse themselves in conference play with two games on the road this weekend.

The Panthers head to Murray State Thursday and then move on to Tennessee-Martin Saturday, making that game Eastern’s fifth game in 10 days. But after Eastern’s first three, the team still feels prepared for the next two battles ahead.

“Sometimes games are easier than practice,” Bergmann said. “Body-wise, everyone is healthy; everyone is healed. Everyone is where they need to be going into two really tough games this weekend.”