The Panther men’s basketball team let a second-half lead slip away for the second-consecutive game and is still looking for its first win after falling to Indiana State 66-58 Saturday at Lantz Arena.

Eastern (0-4) held an eight-point lead with just more than 15 minutes to play but couldn’t hang on as Indiana State (3-0) outscored the Panthers 38-22 during the rest of the game.

The Panthers have started 0-4 just two other times since joining Division I for basketball in 1981.

Senior guard Josh Gomes said the Panthers are getting better, but the team hasn’t executed late in games.

“It’s frustrating because we’re right there, but we just can’t seem to get over the hump,” he said. “Every game, we kind of improve in one area, but we keep slipping in the end.”

Sycamore senior guard David Moss led all scorers with 24 points on 10-of-16 shooting. Freshman guard Mike Robinson scored 16 points to lead the Panthers.

With 10:28 to play, Moss knocked down a 15-foot jump shot with a hand in his face, tying the game at 38 – the first tie since the score was 18-18 with 7:22 left in the first half.

The Sycamores eventually took the lead and stretched things out to 59-52 after a pair of free throws from freshman center Jay Tunnell with under three minutes to play.

But the Panthers wouldn’t go quietly, as Robinson heated up. His three-point jumper cut the lead to four points, and a second three-pointer got Eastern within one possession at 61-58 with 1:18 left.

But Eastern failed to score any more points, as Indiana State closed things out.

Sycamore head coach Royce Waltman said his team played its best basketball as the game came to its end.

“I thought our guys competed hard down through the last eight or nine minutes and pulled it out,” Waltman said. “A road win is good, and when you have to fight for it, it’s even better.”

Panther head coach Mike Miller said his team is getting experience playing in tight games.

“We’ve played in two close games, where with five minutes to play, it can go either way,” he said. “We’ve got to take another step and make more progress.

“I think we can play better basketball.”

The Sycamores shot 57.7 percent in the second half, while the Panthers made just 44.8 percent of their field goals in the final half. On the season, Eastern is shooting just 34.9 percent from the floor.

Miller said part of Eastern’s shooting woes can be traced to a tendency to stay on the outside.

“We don’t want to just keep playing around the arc,” Miller said. “Our best offense comes when we’re penetrating defense. ‘

“And when we get in segments when we’re not penetrating the defense, we don’t make a lot of shots.”

And the lack of penetration meant the Panthers couldn’t get to the free-throw line. Indiana State made 13-of-17 free throws while Eastern connected on 5-of-7 from the line.

Miller said the discrepancy in foul shots bothered him.

“That’s disappointing,” he said. “And that’s about where I have to stop on that one.”

Sophomore guard Bobby Catchings said his team has to overcome things as the clock runs out before they can win a close game.

“It’s pretty frustrating that we can come out and play so well and knock them down in the first half, and then towards the end of the game, we couldn’t execute,” Catchings said. “Coach always says, ‘Be poised.’

“And we just weren’t poised at the end of the game.”