Last year David Moss scored 23 points for Indiana State en route to a 71-56 Sycamore win at Lantz Arena.

On Saturday, the Panthers will take the 45 minute trip to Terre Haute, Ind., to play the annual border war.

The Sycamores are 1-2 this year losing to Indiana University and the University at Buffalo. The Buffalo Bulls beat the Sycamores by 28 points but Buffalo head coach Reggie Witherspoon said his team was only 28 points better than the Sycamores on that night. Witherspoon said on any other night it could have been a different story.

Indiana State leads the all-time series against Eastern with a record of 85-34 according to the Indiana State media guide. The all-time record isn’t half as bad as the all-time road record.

Historically, in Terre Haute the Panthers have found wins hard to come by winning only nine of 57 meetings at Indiana State.

But it doesn’t matter how many games the Panthers have lost at Indiana State in the past, Eastern Head Coach Rick Samuels said his team will be ready to play on Saturday.

“In recent years we’ve had a pretty good rivalry,” Samuels said.

Saturday will mark the 20th time Samuels will lead his Panthers in a contest against Indiana State. Samuels is 8-11 in his previous 19 contests against Indiana State in his 25th year as head coach of the Panthers.

Indiana State has played Eastern in six of Head Coach Royce Waltman’s seven years and Waltman has led the Sycamores to four victories.

“Royce Waltman is an excellent coach,” Samuels said. “He runs a solid motion offense and we’ll have to beat them defensively.”

Samuels and Waltman are not the only ones who have competed against each other in the past.

“Our players come from backgrounds where several of them know each other,” Samuels said.

Samuels said Indiana State has some guys from the Illinois area and on the other hand Eastern has some guys from the Indiana area.

Aaron Patterson, Josh Gomes and Bil Duany are all Indiana natives and hope to perform well in their home state.

Junior forward Darron Evans is from Providence St. Mel High School in Chicago. Eric Gray and Indiana State’s leading scorer Moss, both attended Thornwood High School in Chicago and played together on the basketball team there.

After last year’s match-up Moss said when he was trying to figure out what college to go to he wanted to stay in state. However, Eastern didn’t recruit Moss as heavy as Indiana State did, so Moss became a Sycamore.

Sophomore guard Tyson Schnitker is also an Illinois native. Schnitker graduated from Robinson High School where he averaged 16 points and seven assists per game.

Schnitker, Moss and Gray are three of the Sycamore starting five. Jerod Adler is the Sycamore starting center from Monroe, Ind., and Amani Danish, from Los Angeles, is the only starter not from the area.

They have their starting lineup intact from last year and Samuels is well aware of it.

So many close ties make Samuels realize there are bragging rights on the line on Saturday.

“That’s what regional rivalries are all about,” Samuels said.