From the opening tip, Eastern Kentucky started hot and rode the momentum wave to a 94-85 win Saturday night over the Panthers.

“We really caught Eastern Kentucky on a good night and couldn’t match their intensity,” Eastern Illinois Rick Samuels said.

Colonels sophomore forward Micheal Haney scored a season-high 27 points by hitting 7 of 9 from the field and all 13 of his free throws to lead Eastern Kentucky in scoring.

Haney started the game making 13 of the Colonels (7-6, 2-1) first 22 points as they raced out to a 25-13 lead with 11:53 remaining in the first half.

“Haney didn’t have a shot attempt against Southeast Missouri and just hit everything he threw up Saturday night,” Samuels said.

Eastern Kentucky increased the lead to 48-34 at halftime by shooting 56 percent from the field.

The Panthers (5-9, 1-2) made their first four shots from the field in the second stanza and cut the lead to 54-48 at the 17:05 mark. Eastern came out of the locker room and shot 53 percent from the field and 56 percent from beyond the arc.

“It’s certainly not every night that you get 85 points and lose,” Samuels said.

Panthers guard and nation’s leading scorer Henry Domercant scored 30 points on 8 of 17 from the field but only made 11 of 17 from the charity stripe.

“We knew coming in that Domercant was going to get his points, but we sustained our effort as a team on the defensive end all night long.” Colonels head coach Travis Ford said.

The Colonels dominated the Panthers on the interior while they were playing without center Jan Thompson by outscoring them 40-22 in the paint and out rebounding the Panthers 37-31. Eastern Illinois struggled so much on the boards point guard Craig Lewis led the Panthers in rebounding with eight.

“That’s something that really disappointed us because they had a substantial rebounding advantage,” Samuels said.

Except for guard J.R. Reynolds’ 20 points, the Panthers didn’t get much performance from their bench Saturday night. Besides Reynolds, the rest of the bench accounted for two points and three shot attempts.

“Are bench is really thin right now and that’s the purpose of bringing J.R. off the bench,” Samuels said.

Junior Jesse Mackinson scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds while playing all but 51 seconds of the game.

Ford’s rebuilding process in Richmond has started to see progress since the Colonels matched their win total from the past two seasons with seven and have moved into third place in the Ohio Valley Conference standings

behind Morehead State and UT-Martin. Ford, the former starting Kentucky point guard, is working this season with only one player that played with the team two seasons ago and is replacing three starters for the second consecutive season.

“Playing three non Division 1-A opponents will give a team confidence but it was my understanding that a team in our conference wasn’t allowed to do that,” Samuels said.

After winning its conference opener at Southeast Missouri, the Panthers have dropped its next two on the road and will look to turn its luck around at Lantz Arena against Murray State on Thursday.