Two in-state recruits signed national letters-of-intent Wednesday with Eastern’s basketball program.

Kevin Lowe of Tinley Park Andrews High School is a 6-foot-10-inch 215-pound center that averaged 10 points and eight rebounds a game, but will give the Panthers an instant size advantage in the Ohio Valley Conference.

“Kevin has great size and could get bigger by an inch or two, but has good mechanics with his footwork,” Panthers head coach Rick Samuels said.

Lowe was impressive at Eastern’s summer post-player camp where he won the dunk contest.

“He has the ability to use his left and right hand when shooting the ball, and he hasn’t even reached his full potential yet,” Samuels said.

The buzz around Charleston is the fact Samuels was able to ink Bobby Catchings. The Naperville guard averaged nine points per game at Neuqua Valley, which compiled a 26-3 record and made it to the IHSA sectional title game.

“We really believe that Bobby is a steal for our program, because if he wasn’t averaging nine points per game he wouldn’t even consider Eastern,” Samuels said.

Catchings is a 6-foot-6-inch shooting guard whose father played at Oregon State.

“He’s in the mold of a Henry Domercant and Kyle Hill because of his athletic ability, but he’s not behind in his size,” Samuels said.

Like Lowe, Panther coaches are expecting Catchings to grow and mature more.

“We have been pursuing Bobby for almost two years, and we offered him a commitment sheet the first chance we could,” Samuels said. “He could be 6-6 or 6-7 when he stops growing and could make people say ‘who’s this kid’ really fast.

The Panthers are building a potentially dominating backcourt for the future.

“We are incredibly excited about a potential back court of Josh Gomes at the point and Bobby playing a wing,” Samuels said.

Next season, Panther fans can be excited about a possible rotation of guards Emanuel Dildy, Josh Gomes and Bobby Catchings playing with a frontcourt tandem of Jesse Mackinson, Andy Gobczynski and Kevin Lowe.