It took the Eastern men’s basketball team 35 minutes before they awoke from their summer slumber.

In the Panthers’ first and only exhibition game of the season, the NBC Thunder, a collection of former college and professional players, held a lead as late as the 2:22 mark in the second half, but the Panthers came back to claim a 98-89 victory.

The Panthers trailed for most of the second half but never by more than eight points.

“We were a little out of sync and out of rhythm,” senior guard Henry Domercant said. “The team is still just getting that confidence and getting that chemistry on offense. We’ll be fine. I have confidence in all my teammates to make shots.”

Domercant helped the Panthers come back late, seven of his 35 points coming in the final five minutes of the game.

Domercant warmed up in the second half after making 4 of 15 from the field for 12 points in the first half. In the second half, Domercant made 6 of 10 from the field including 4 of 6 from beyond the three-point line.

“Henry picked it up in the second half when we convinced him to catch and shoot,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “He has to come off a screen and think shot.”

Domercant was given a taste of the NBA facing former Cleveland Cavalier Craig Ehlo.

Domercant said that he looked forward to the matchup with the 41-year-old Ehlo.

“He knows the game,” Domercant said. “He’s not the quickest guy out there, but he plays controlled, smart basketball, and he still made plays.”

Ehlo was equally impressed with Domercant.

“He’s got the scorer’s mentality and scorer’s touch,” Ehlo said. “He’s kinda in between in height, and that could make it tough for him.”

Ehlo said he had a tough time keeping up with Domercant.

“I read the paper this morning. That’s the first thing that when wrong,” Ehlo joked. “Coach said that I couldn’t play defense on him.”

The Panthers received a quality game from junior center Jesse Mackinson with an 8-11 day shooting for 16 points.

“I think we got a very solid performance out of Jesse Mackinson,” Samuels said.

Samuels was slightly disappointed with his team’s effort on defense.

“We were beating each other up in practice this week,” Samuels said. “We didn’t see any of that intensity in the first 20 minutes.”

Offensively Samuels saw some positive signs, particularly the Panthers’ shot selection.

“For the most part, the shots we took were the shots we wanna take,” Samuels said. “They just weren’t going in