After losing its first two conference games at home, Southeast Missouri came into Lantz Arena and handed Eastern a taste of its own medicine.

The 84-64 victory for SEMO (8-6, 1-2) was their first in Ohio Valley Conference play, after they had lost their first two games in the conference at home. The Panthers (3-10, 2-2) have dropped their last two home conference games, and did so in disappointing fashion on Tuesday night.

“It came down, really, to the start of the second half and that just started them on a roll,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “That means that our execution on the offensive end was lacking any consistency tonight, and that meant that we couldn’t stop their run.”

In nearly four minutes second half, the Panthers’ two point deficit had grown to nine points, and that run was just a sign of things to come.

The Panthers had come into the second half playing their best basketball of the night, as they clawed their way back into the game from what had been a 10-point margin.

“You have to give them credit for the way they played in the second half. Hats off to them, but still is something where we felt we could have changed the way the game went,” sophomore guard Jake Sinclair said.

The main reason that Eastern couldn’t string a long amount of stops together on the defensive end was the Indians’ leading scorer Derek Winans. Winans missed only four shots from the field as he went 12-16 from the field. Winans was able to score from all over the floor as he hit four of six from beyond the arc and also was tough to stop inside.

The 6 foot 3 inch guard had a knack for getting around the bigger defenders he encountered while taking the ball to the hoop.

That is one thing Samuels hoped his guards could learn from the Indians’ star player.

“With a guy like Josh Gomes who has so much talent, the only other thing I would like see from him is to get to the basket more,” Samuels said. “Two good things can happen from that: he could convert the layup or get to the foul line.”

While Gomes did struggle against SEMO, he only 12 points on four of 14 shooting, the team was picked up by forward Aaron Patterson.

Patterson finished the night with 18 points and nine rebounds, three of which were on the offensive glass.

He offered the team its only true post presence in the game, and did so throughout except for when the Indians switched to zone.

The zones implemented by SEMO were affective because switched back and forth between man-to-man and zone throughout the game.

The low point in the night came with about seven minutes remaining in the game, when junior guard Derik Hollyfield fouled out of the game after a technical foul.

Hollyfield taunted Winans after blocking one of his shots late in the game and drew the attention of the referee, and was forced to the bench where Samuels had a few words for him.

“I was pretty stern with (Hollyfield) tonight about the incident he had,” Samuels said. “We were getting beat pretty good tonight and he has to realize that one play doesn’t change that.

“He’s a talented player who can make plays, and we need him to be at his best.”

The Panthers will attempt to rebound Saturday night at Lantz Arena against Tennesse State.