The Panthers’ men’s basketball team’s exhibition 85-61 win over Illinois-Springfield was expected. Freshman guard Mike Robinson’s performance Thursday night at Lantz Arena was not.

Robinson was a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the three-point line and, along with junior guard Josh Gomes, led all scorers with 18 points each. Robinson also dished out a game-high seven assists.

Sophomore center George Tandy scored 17 points with eight rebounds and three blocked shots in the win. Freshman forward Billy Parrish and sophomore center Jake Byrne each scored 10 points to round out the Panthers’ double-digit scorers.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said while the Panthers didn’t play as good as possible, they did enough to make him happy.

“I thought we did a good job of playing like we practiced,” he said. “We got a good effort out there.”

And the game-like practices helped Robinson feel relaxed instead of feeling like a newcomer in his first collegiate game.

“I was really comfortable,” he said. “I didn’t have any jitters because practice has been so intense.”

Miller, making his Eastern coaching debut, said his team struggled a little defensively when it came to defending the pick-and-roll and dribble penetration. Despite the mishaps, Eastern still limited the Prairie Stars to just 30.3 percent shooting from the field.

Senior forward Curtis Collins and junior guard Corey Farmer led Illinois-Springfield with 11 points each in the loss.

Eastern took control of the game early – something that may have caused some problems later, Gomes said.

“We started off on a really good note,” he said. “We knew we had to play defense and take control in the game’s first ten minutes.

“The lesson learned from this is when you get up, you have to keep the intensity.”

Behind two strong runs, the Panthers led Illinois-Springfield 40-29 at halftime.

The Panthers handled the Prairie Stars’ pressure early and made things difficult on Illinois-Springfield with their own full-court press.

The stifling defense led to forced shots and turnovers for Illinois-Springfield, and as a result, Eastern pitched a shutout for the game’s first 4 minutes and 20 seconds, as they jumped out to a 15-0 lead.

Gomes led the Panthers with six points in the run, but it was Robinson who raised the most eyebrows, scoring four points and delivering a crowd-pleasing one-handed no-look pass to sophomore center Jake Byrne for a lay-up.

After the Prairie Stars get their first basket, a three-point basket, the Panthers began to struggle against the full-court pressure. Illinois-Springfield forced 11 first half turnovers, including eight off of steals.

Farmer’s three sparked a 10-3 run, which closed the gap to 18-10.

But then the Panther freshman, notably Robinson, took over.

Eastern went on a 14-2 run in just over three minutes, with its three freshmen combining for 12 of the points. A Robinson three-pointer, his second in the run, put Eastern up 32-12. In the span, Robinson scored eight points, all consecutively.

The Panthers cooled off again, going the final 4:38 of the half without a field goal as Illinois-Springfield closed the Panther lead to 11.

But in the end, the Panthers regrouped and are primed to continue improving, Miller said.

“I told them we had one game in the book and now we have something to build on,” he said. “We did enough good things tonight where we can take a step.”