Eastern let a game slip away that could have given them a head start on the rest of the Ohio Valley Conference as the Panthers fell to Austin Peay 60-53 Saturday evening at Lantz Arena.

“We missed an opportunity tonight,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said.

The Panthers (3-9, 1-1) not only failed to earn a three-game winning streak but the team also couldn’t earn its eighth straight victory against the Governors at home.

“I’ve matured and played against every one of those Austin Peay seniors and they have great chemistry,” senior center Jesse Mackinson said. “The good news is I think we saw their best punch and we’re getting better.”

Eastern opened the game with more emotion and effort on defense as the Panthers were within three points after the first five minutes of the contest.

“We changed our warm up routine and it has really made us get focused quicker and we’ve gotten out to faster starts,” Mackinson said.

Austin Peay played a 2-3 zone defense against the Panthers forcing Eastern to hit outside shots. The Panthers struggled to do so, shooting 39 percent from the field and only 2 of 14 from beyond the arc.

“I thought their zone was effective against us tonight and they are a veteran team who’s been through these type of wars,” Samuels said. “They simply made plays and we didn’t.”

“We didn’t have good offensive execution in the way of breaking them down off the dribble,” Mackinson said.

With nearly seven minutes left in the first half, Eastern found itself down 26-14 and looked to be having a frustrating experience at the offensive end of the floor. However, the Panthers went on a 12-2 run led by Mackinson and sophomore guard Josh Gomes. After this momentum swing, Eastern went into the locker room down by only two.

“We’re starting to click offensively but it came in spurts tonight,” Mackinson said. “This motion offense takes time to learn and I’ve seen dramatic improvement in these young guys.”

With 10:43 left in the game, Eastern would take its second lead of the contest at 36-34 on a layup from junior guard Derik Hollyfield and again at 38-36 thanks to Mackinson.

Unfortunately for the Panthers, it was the last time they would see the lead.

Eastern was down by two with less than two minutes left in the game when a pair of plays determined the final outcome.

Mackinson and Governors center Zac Schlader were fighting for a crucial rebound that landed out of bounds. After a short conference between officials whose opinion deferred, they ruled it to be Austin Peay ball.

Immediately following that ruling, Gomes was called for his fifth foul for trying to fight through a screen on the inbounds play.

Eastern’s leading scorer was forced to watch the final 1:38 on the bench and the Panthers were outscored 8-4 in that period of time to seal the victory.

“I’m still not sure about the foul on Josh but most of the away from the ball calls were consistent,” Samuels said.

Samuels was able to take a moral victory away from the disappointing loss to the defending OVC Tournament champions and 2003 NCAA Tournament participant.

“We’re contending in the league now and we didn’t even play that well tonight so that fact is encouraging,” Samuels said. “We simply need to work on our end of game situations because late in the game we don’t have to force up threes.”