The rust was apparent last Saturday night when the men’s basketball team squeaked out a 83-81 win over Winona State.

“We had trouble getting going in the first half,” Eastern head coach Rick Samuels said. “The second half was much better.”

The Panthers headed into the locker room at halftime down by nine points to a Division-II basketball team.

“Last year we probably would have lost this game,” junior shooting guard Josh Gomes said. “We would have fought hard last year, but we would have had the thought in the back of our heads that we weren’t going to win this one.”

The Panthers came back in the second half, erased the nine-point halftime deficit with 9:39 left to play and won the game by two.

“The chemistry of this team from this time last year is a lot better,” Gomes said.

Gomes was second on the team in scoring with 25 points, which is a lot different from last year when the Panthers had only eight 20-point performances; five of which came from Gomes.

Samuels said he was very pleased with the way Gomes shot the ball making nine of his 17 shots from the field.

“When Josh goes up for a shot I have great confidence it’s going in the basket,” Samuels said.

Gomes worked tremendously hard in the off season, Samuels said. He was in the gym working on his shot all summer and it looks to be paying off.

As Gomes will go this season, so will the Panthers. But Gomes will have help this season. Aaron Patterson led the Panthers in scoring against Winona State with 26 points making all 10 of his shots from the field and converting on six of his seven free throw attempts. Patterson also had 10 rebounds giving him a double-double.

“I was encouraged by our free throw percentage,” Samuels said. “Gomes and Patterson are going to get to the line and if they can continue to convert like they did Saturday it will be a great benefit for us.”

Gomes said he was impressed at the way Emanuel Dildy, who had 11 points, four assists and three steals, managed the game from the point guard position and the way Andy Gobczynski crashed the boards finishing the game with 10 rebounds.

“It’s just different this year,” Gomes said. “Guys know their roles on the team and are accepting them.”

Gomes said because the guys on their team know their roles, there is more team unity. Gomes even noticed the guys on the bench were more enthusiastic than last year.

As for Division-II Winona State, the Panthers considered them a worthy opponent.

“My impression is if they played in the Ohio Valley Conference, they’d win games,” Samuels said. “They’re a pretty good team.”

“They weren’t bad at all,” Gomes agreed. “They got a couple guys that could play somewhere else. They played like they have been playing for a couple of months already.”

The Panthers know they have some work to do before the season starts.

“As is often the case of a game this early, we know we have a lot of work to do,” Samuels said. “We need to get a little tougher and make teams respond to our defense.”

That toughness will come easier when the Panthers get everyone healthy. Hopefully that will be in time for their next exhibition game on Friday Nov. 19 against University of Illinois-Springfield.