The Panther men’s basketball team will play its first home game in December against in-state rival Western tonight at 7:10 p.m.

However, the Panthers will not play in Lantz Arena again until Dec. 30. Of the Panthers first three home games, only tonight’s game falls while classes are in session. With students on campus for tonight’s game, attendance is expected to top the turnout of 2,068 from Saturday’s game against Evansville that the Panthers won 94-89.

“Our kids are looking forward to this game,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “We would like to utilize the two game homestand. We have some tough ones coming up at Indiana State and Illinois.”

One player that might be a bit more excited to play at home will be senior guard Henry Domercant. He currently has 1,923 career points, which is three shy of tying Jay Taylor as Eastern’s all-time leading scorer.

Domercant scored 40 points against Evansville despite some very creative defensive schemes.

“Evansville tried everything I could think of (to stop Henry),” Samuels said.

Samuels likes how his team matches up against Western. The Leathernecks’ tallest player, freshman David Gensliger, measures in at 6-foot-9 against Eastern’s tallest, senior Jan Thompson at 6-foot-11. Samuels hopes his team’s height advantage over the Leathernecks will help the Panthers win the rebound battle.

“We should be bigger, taller, but they have some pretty thick kids.” Samuels said. “Our height should help us on the boards.”

Thompson and Eastern’s other post players will have their hands full with Western’s “thick” players. Shawn Mason and Luis Rivas led the team in scoring after two games. Mason was Western’s leading scorer in both of its first two games. Against Hampton University, he had 14 points and 19 against Norfolk State University.

Rivas led the team in rebounds in both of those games. With seven boards against Hampton University and 16 against Norfolk, Rivas is a force under the boards.

Samuels said that Western looks similar to the team that Eastern beat 81-72.

“They have the same look in offensive concept and they are a little more athletic on the perimeter,” Samuels said.

Samuels said that the Panthers need to keep improving.

“We’ve got to keep working on getting better,” Samuels said. “Obviously on defense we need to start getting stretches of defensive stops.”