Eastern dug themselves another first-half hole in their Ohio Valley Conference home opener against Murray State in Thursday night’s 80-74 loss.

The Racers came off the bus and scored the first four points of the game, and Eastern was forced to play catch up for most of the first half.

“Basically as a team, we sucked in the first half,” junior forward Jesse Mackinson said.

Ohio Valley preseason Player of the Year, Henry Domercant, started off the game 4 of 10 from the field and failed to score until the 13th minute of the game.

“They did a great job of stopping Henry all night long, but he may have to be more aggressive,” Mackinson said.

The nation’s leading scorer finished the game with 27 points and shot a disappointing seven of 23 from the field. After Domercant hit a three-pointer with 3:35 left in the game, he failed to touch the ball again until the last few seconds.

“(Henry) can’t come and run a straight line and take his man off the dribble, he’s never been able to do that all year because defenses are oriented toward stopping him,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said.

The game became completely out of reach after Jake Sinclair was called for traveling immediately after crossing half court.

That was Sinclair’s second turnover of the game, but he showed more aggressive play while leading a 17-6 run to begin the second half.

“I think that everybody came out and played very lethargic except for Jesse Mackinson and Jake Sinclair,” Samuels said.

Murray State began the contest with three new starters that provided the Panthers with several match-up problems contributing to Eastern’s lackluster start. Racers head coach Tevester Anderson was evidently unhappy with his team’s effort during the Austin Peay loss at home and hinted he would shake up the lineup.

On the night, the Panthers were without senior center Jan Thompson due to a shoulder injury. The Racers dominated Eastern in the post by outscoring them 44-24 in the paint.

“Murray is a good, physical team and we got into some foul trouble that hurt us,” Samuels said.

The Racers kept Eastern’s front court off the boards – especially in the first half. Murray State out rebounded Eastern 26-15 and 13-3 on the offensive glass.

“They probably got 20 points off second chance opportunities and believe me, it was discussed all week in practice,” Samuels said.

J.R. Reynolds came off the bench to provide the Panthers with instant offense. After hitting two consecutive three-pointers in the first half, Reynolds raised his arms and got the Lantz Arena faithful on their feet.

“That’s why it’s great for J.R. to come off the bench because his shot is always going to be there,” Mackinson said.

The last time the Panthers were defeated in Lantz Arena was late February last year against Tennessee Tech.

“The crowd was great and I hope they come out on Saturday night too,” Mackinson said. “I’m just sorry we weren’t able to get a win for them.”

The Panthers will face Tennessee-Martin Saturday night in Lantz Arena.

“We’ll find out what this team is made of,” Samuels said.