Facing a half-court trap that Tennessee-Martin would use throughout the game, the Eastern men’s basketball team broke the press so effectively in the first half that they never trailed.

But five minutes into the second half, all recollection of how that lead was built vanished.

“We kept emphasizing that in the second half the time was running out so we had to be assertive when we attack,” Panther head coach Rick Samuels said. “But, we gave them the rhythm they needed in the second half with turnovers and lazy passes.

“That allowed them to take advantage of some transition passes, and they were on the run.”

The Skyhawks ran through the first five minutes of the half and took control of the game, but their advantage slowly disapated as Eastern reclaimed the momentum.

But, for the Panthers, it wasn’t until the final minutes of the half that they were able to recover. Facing a deficit that swelled as large as nine points, the Panthers took the lead back with just 28 seconds remaining in the game.

“Once our defense finally picked up during the last few minutes, we had a whole different intensity,” junior forward Andy Gobczynski said.

The change in momentum allowed the Panthers to make dreams of a comeback victory a reality.

While the Skyhawks built their lead on a flurry of activity that came in a matter of minutes, the Panthers took the last 10 minutes of the second half and slowly but surely closed the gap.

During a 12-2 run that took the Skyhawks all of five minutes to rattle off, an Eastern lead that hadn’t wavered in the first 20 minutes turned into a seven-point deficit.

“I wouldn’t say we came out flat (in the second half),” senior guard Emanuel Dildy said. “But we had some turnovers that caused us to flatten out a little.

“We had confidence in our offense though, so we weren’t really worried.”

As the final minutes crept up, the Panthers refocused on getting to the rim instead of relying on jump shots. The result was the Panthers taking advantage of the free-throw line as they went 13-of-14 from the stripe in the second half.

The final four free throws came from Gobczynski, who converted on the free throws that iced the game for the Panthers.

“Good for Andrew Gobczynski,” Samuels said. “He battled (through) some tough plays early, and at the end, he certainly made up for it.”