The Eastern men’s basketball team has lived and died by the jump shot this season. Saturday night against Indiana State they were buried in a 63-57 non-conference loss.

The Panthers (3-4) could not find any rhythm on the offensive side, shooting just 37 percent from the field and nine percent from behind the three point line as they had their lowest scoring output of the season.

“It was just one of those nights where (the shots) didn’t go down for us,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “We do have to give credit to Indiana State for their defending though.”

Senior guards Henry Domercant and J.R. Reynolds, the team’s leading scorers on the season, combined for only 16 points on 5-of-23 shooting from the field.

Domercant ended with a team high 15 points and 10 rebounds, but was held in check for most of the game. Reynolds finished with just one point and did not get on the scoreboard until six minutes left in the game.

Both teams opened the game with poor shooting as the Panthers climbed to an early 11-5 lead after the Sycamores (3-4) began with 2-of-13 from the field. Eastern went up by as much as nine in the first half and took a 29-24 lead into the locker room.

But Indiana State came out strong in the second half with a 12-5 run to take a 36-34 lead. The Sycamores took the lead for good with a basket from junior guard Marcus Howard for a 48-46 lead.

Samuels thinks the Sycamores’ ability to drive to the basket in the second half is what determined the outcome of the game.

“The key is they were able to make some plays off the dribble at the end, and we were not able to do that,” Samuels said.

Part of the Sycamores’ success came from the return of sophomore guard Lamar Grimes. Grimes, who contributed 10 points, had missed the last six games due to injury.

“His return was real big for them,” Samuels said. “He was a kid that could penetrate with the ball, and in the second half, had two or three possessions where he made plays for them.”

Indiana State was led by Howard with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Freshman guard David Moss added 11 points and six rebounds for the Sycamores.

The loss gives Eastern a 1-4 record away from Lantz Arena this season.

The Panthers will put their road woes back to the test as they travel to play the University of Illinois at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Assembly Hall.

“The bottom line is we have to recover and build some confidence in our shooting,” Samuels said. “We need to learn lessons from this and move on.”