The Panthers left Madison a bit embarrassed as they were blown back to Charleston by the 15th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers in a 81-47 loss at the Kohl Center.

The Panthers hung with the nationally ranked Big Ten Conference foe as Eastern held an 18-17 lead with 7:32 left in the first half. Backup forward Andy Gobcynski led the Panthers going into halftime with eight points.

“Gobcynski gave us a good effort early to keep us in the game, but they just wore us down defensively,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said.

The Panthers were able to hold Big Ten Conference Preseason Player of the Year Devin Harris to five points on one of seven shooting from the field. Eastern also forced seven first half turnovers which exceeded the total of the Badger opener against Pennsylvania.

“It was a matter of Eastern being very aggressive and not allowing us to get an easy basket,” Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan said.

Wisconsin guard Freddie Owens lit the Panthers 2-3 zone defense up to the tune of 11 first half points to lead all scorers.

“My teammates were able to find me when I was open and the shots were just failing for me tonight,” Owens said. The senior from Milwaukee, Wis. ended the contest with 24 points and four three-point shots.

After giving up 13 turnovers and getting nothing offensively from junior Derik Holyfield and sophomore Josh Gomes, the Panthers found itself only down by nine going into the locker room.

With 19:37 left in the game, Holyfield picked up his fourth foul and was immediately put on the bench. At that point, the Badgers went on a 13-4 run with Eastern’s leading scorer on the bench.

“When a player lik Derik gets quick fouls and is ineffective, that really makes a difference for us cause the rest of our team is young,” Samuels said.

The Badgers put Harris in the post against smaller Eastern guard Emanuel Dildy to get easy baskets.

“That’s Wisconsin’s game to post their guards up in the lane and be physical with them,” Samuels said.

With 11:13 left in the game, Holyfield scored his first point of the game on a free throw but committed his fifth foul 35 feet from the basket on the way back down the court. At this point, the Panthers were down by more than 20.

“We simply didn’t set effective screens for our shooters tonight and it got out of control very quickly,” Samuels said.

Wisconsin went on a 32-14 run from the start of the second half which forced both teams to empty their benches. Panther fans got its first look at 6-10 center Kevin Lowe who pulled down three rebounds in ten minutes of action.

Senior guard Jason Wright led Eastern with 11 points mostly in garbage time and the only Panther in double figures.

“We shot the ball in the second half but we will need to shoot it better and not commit 23 turnovers to beat a Top 20 team,” Samuels said.

The 34-point win made Wisconsin’s head coach Bo Ryan’s record at the Kohl Center 29-2 and the 14th consecutive victory under Ryan at home.

However, the Badgers were held under 40 percent shooting for the second consecutive contest but this figure doesn’t seem to worry the team’s leader.

“Obsessive people aren’t allowed in our locker room so we don’t worry about it,” Ryan said. “I don’t understand this talk about a letdown because I don’t even know how to spell letdown, that’s not the kind of guy I am.”