The Panther men’s basketball team spent much of the semester break on the road, playing on hostile ground in five of their seven games since Dec. 17. And like the Panthers’ two previous road games, the team failed to record a victory.

The Panthers’ most recent action has been the opening two games of their Ohio Valley Conference schedule.

Eastern (5-8, 0-2 OVC) traveled to Austin Peay for their fourth straight road game Saturday and fell to the Governors 68-54. Freshman guard Bobby Catchings came off the bench to lead the Panthers with 15 points.

Austin Peay senior guard Anthony Davis led all players with 25 points and seven rebounds for the Governors (4-10, 2-0). The Governors held the Panthers to under 40 percent from the field and forced Eastern into committing 17 turnovers.

“Anthony Davis made some big shots for them,” junior guard Josh Gomes said. “Every time we made play, we’d go back on defense and then they’d execute and make a bigger play.”

Turnovers also played a role in the Panthers’ OVC opener, an 86-72 loss at Tennessee Tech (7-6, 2-0). Eastern turned the ball over 21 times in the game while only dishing out seven assists.

The Panthers trailed by two at halftime, after shooting over 50 percent in the first half before an 11-4 run to start the second half cushioned Tennessee Tech’s lead.

Senior forward Willie Jenkins paced the Golden Eagles’ offense, leading all scorers with 28 points. Senior guard Emanuel Dildy’s 20 points led the Panther offense. Freshman center George Tandy added 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting off the bench.

Before dropping its first two OVC contests, Eastern closed out its non-conference season.

On Dec. 17, the Panthers opened play in the four-team in the Dodge Holiday Classic in Reno, Nev. In the first round, Eastern defeated Idaho State 56-53 behind Catchings’ team-high 11 points and earned the chance to face the tournament-hosting Nevada Wolf Pack in the finals.

Cold shooting plagued the Panthers in the finals, as the Nevada defense limited them to 18-of-58 shooting form the field. Dildy and Tandy scored 12 points each to lead the team in the 83-57 loss to the Wolf Pack.

The team then returned home to Lantz Arena and defeated Western Illinois 65-62 on Dec. 21.

Dildy and Gomes led the Eastern offense with 19 and 17 points, respectively. Senior forward Aaron Patterson added 10 rebounds and scored eight points for the Panther effort.

Eastern then closed out its non-conference schedule with a pair of road losses to major conference programs.

The Panthers first traveled to Kansas State on Dec. 30, where despite a solid offensive effort from Gomes, the Panthers lost to the Wildcats 81-63.

Gomes led the Panthers with 23 points on 9-of-19 shooting from the field and 5-of-6 shooting from behind the free-throw line.

The Panthers concluded non-conference action on the road against Purdue from the Big Ten Conference on Jan. 2.

Eastern trailed the Boilermakers 32-30 at half before Purdue pulled away to an 87-67 win. The Panthers held Purdue to 37.5 percent in the first half before the Boilermakers came out on fire in the second half, shooting over 63 percent from the field.

Gomes said the Panthers need to sustain their effort to snap their four-game losing streak.

“We’re either down two or up two at the half in a lot of our games,” he said. “And then in the second half, something happens and we don’t come out with the same kind of fire.”

Dildy’s 25 points led the Panther offense, which shot 56.5 percent from the field in the loss.

The Panthers will look for their first road win and first OVC win when they take on Southeast Missouri State (5-8, 0-2) at 7:30 pm Tuesday.

“We’ve dropped the last four games, and now, we have to go get wins – no excuses,” Gomes said.