If the Panthers plan to win again this season, they’ll have to do it on the road. An 85-68 loss to Tennessee Tech Saturday night at Lantz Arena wiped out their chances of hosting a first-round Ohio Valley Conference Tournament game.

The 17-point loss marked Eastern’s third in its last four home games. The Panthers (15-15, 7-9) have lost seven of their last nine entering Tuesday’s first-round Ohio Valley Conference tournament game at Murray State.

But Saturday night, the difference was which team was able to dominate inside. Tech (22-5, 15-1) outscored Eastern 40-22 in the paint, with center Damien Kinloch scoring a game-high 24 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field.

“It was a story of Tennessee Tech having too many offensive weapons to too few offensive weapons for Eastern,” Panther head coach Rick Samuels said. “Our effort in the second half was an effort a team with their back to the wall would normally come out with. I don’t think we had that same must-have-it mentality in the first half.”

Eastern was able to keep it close early, before the Golden Eagles went on a 20-7 run to take a 17-point advantage at the half. The Panthers managed to claw their way back into the game against Tech.

Down 51-36, senior Todd Bergmann, in his last game at home as a Panther, converted a bucket while being fouled. Then on the very next play, junior Henry Domercant, the nation’s No. 2 scorer, stole and tossed the ball to Bergmann for an alley-oop dunk, forcing a Tech timeout.

“At halftime, coach was letting us know that we’re not out of the game yet. Everybody knows we can come back from a deficit, and we play pretty well at home,” junior center Jan Thompson said. “We came out in the second half focused, and knew what we had to do.”

Following the timeout, junior transfer Ramon Taylor checked into the game, and seconds later, forced Tech guard Leigh Gayden to commit an over-and-back violation. Following a stretch in which junior guard Craig Lewis scored six straight points for the Panthers, Lewis picked the Golden Eagle point guard for a steal and threw down a left-handed fast-break jam at the other end. That dunk, which sent the crowd of 4,271 to its feet, cut the Tech lead to 56-48.

“He’s a firecracker. Every team we play, when they see ‘Mone come into the game, they’re searching their bench trying to find someone that can compete against him,” Bergmann said of Taylor. “Ramon comes in with fire, and he doesn’t know how long he’s going to play so he’s going to spill every ounce. He knows that if he picks the ball from the point, he’s going to put on a show.”

After Taylor’s show, Thompson thought there was no looking back for the Panthers, who were in the midst of a 12-5 run.

“That dunk he had in the second half … I thought we had them. I thought we had them on the ropes,” Thompson said. “I was getting real pumped, and I thought we were going to get them there, but it didn’t go our way in the end.”

After Kinloch converted on three of four free throws on back-to-back possessions, sophomore guard Jason Wright hit a deep three to keep Tech’s lead at eight. Four straight free throws by Domercant would bring Eastern within six, but that’s when Kinloch took over for Tech.

The 6-foot 8-inch junior from Charleston, S.C. would score 10 of his team’s next 12 points, putting the game out of reach.

“When we had the game down to six, they went to their man. They went to Kinloch,” Bergmann said. “I think Jan played great on him. Kinloch’s game is getting to the rim and Jan chested him up, and Kinloch went to the middle three or four times and threw shots up that went off the top of the backboard and would fall.

But that’s the difference between the conference tournament’s No. 1 seed and the sixth-seeded Panthers.

“When you’re 22-5, some of those shots go in for you all season long. I thought the three baskets Kinloch made after we closed the gap were just tough shots,” Samuels said. “In fact, one or two of them were lucky shots, but that’s what happens. I thought our defense then was as solid as it could be.”

Domercant led the way for the Panthers, scoring 22 points in 37 minutes of play. But the scoring sensation from Naperville shot an icy 6-of-22 from the field and just 3-of-12 from three-point range. Wright finished with 12 points, while shooting just 4-of-12 from the field. Lewis finished with nine points, while Bergmann had eight. Junior J.R. Reynolds scored seven on just 2-of-10 shooting.

“The kids who need to take shots are Henry, J.R. and Jason, and they’re 6-for-22, 2-for-10 and 4-for-12 – that’s not good,” Samuels said. “There’s no question Henry is tired, mentally and physically. But more than anything, Tech’s defense was the key.”

The loss, and a Murray State win over Morehead State Saturday, sends the Panthers packing for Murray, where they defeated the Racers on the road for the first time ever earlier this season.

“We’ve won at Murray. We’ve just got to come out ready to go,” Thompson said. “We’ve done it before, so it’s on when we get there. They better be ready for us, because we’re coming to play.”