The Eastern men’s basketball team goes on the road for the last time during the regular season Tuesday night at 7 p.m. against Southeast Missouri State.

The Panthers (14-13, 6-7) have lost two straight conference games at home and are currently struggling to find their offense while the Indians (5-20, 3-11) are playing their best basketball of the season.

SEMO had won two straight before losing 92-86 to second place Murray State on Saturday night.

“Offensively they are playing very well right now,” head coach Rick Samuels said. “They have five or six game-makers that can score for them.”

The Indians have been led by freshman guard Derek Winans, who averages 14.3 points per game. Winans was named Ohio Valley Conference Rookie of the Week this past week for the fifth time this season.

Junior forward Tim Scheer and junior reserve Drew Demond are the other key sparks to SEMO’s offense with 14.0 and 10.1 points per game. Demond came away with 18 points in the first meeting between the teams on Jan. 5.

Samuels feels each player must step up defensively for his team to be successful.

“Our defense has to be individually strong for us,” Samuels said. “We can’t give them any easy looks at the basket.”

Although the defense may have their work cut out for them, it is the offense that must perform better than what they have in recent games. The Panthers are currently ranked eighth in the OVC in field goal percentage with 43.6 percent.