Mike Robinson received a ball screen at the top of the key and drove straight down the lane at Samford’s defense.

Eastern’s sophomore point guard sought contact with a Bulldog defender before attempting his layup.

The ball hit off the backboard and dropped through the net with 9 minutes, 1 second left in Saturday’s game at Lantz Arena.

Robinson’s layup pulled Eastern within six, 39-33, sent the season-high crowd of 3,194 into a frenzy and caused Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette to call a 30-second timeout.

Robinson’s layup was the last Panther field goal until a Bobby Catchings layup with 45 seconds left and Samford ahead 46-39.

Two scoring droughts, one in the second half and one in the first half, by Eastern were instrumental in Samford’s 53-48 win.

Eastern scored six points in the final 11:09 of the first half and Samford went into halftime with a 29-17 lead.

In that time span, the Panthers shot three of 11.

The 12-point deficit was cut to six following Robinson’s layup, but any momentum the Panthers had slowly dissipated away because of the scoring drought.

Catchings said the stretches of not scoring were something that happened at the start of the year, and not something the Panthers wanted to happen late in the season.

“We can’t do that,” he said. “Eight minutes is a long time. Even if we would have sprinkled some baskets in, two or three, in eight minutes, I think it’s a different game.”

Eastern shot eight of 24 (33 percent) in the first half and did not fare much better in the second half, making 11 of 29 shots (38 percent). For the game, the Panthers shot 36 percent.

“We just didn’t make enough shots,” said Eastern head coach Mike Miller. “We had some opportunities during those stretches where I felt like the ball was at the right place. We just weren’t able to make the play we needed to.”

Robinson had a chance to cut Samford’s lead to three with 5:33 left, but missed a wide-open 3-pointer from the right corner. Catchings had another opportunity to cut Samford’s lead from 42-37 to 42-40, but missed an uncontested 3-pointer from the right wing with 2:53 to play.

Eastern scored four points in between Robinson’s layup with 9:01 left and Catchings’ layup. All four points came on free throws by Robinson, who finished with a team-high 15 points. In that time span, the Panthers missed 10 straight shots and committed three turnovers.

Eastern, despite the lengthy scoring drought, stayed in the game because Samford only shot 29 percent in the second half after shooting 52 percent in the first half.

The Panthers switched to a 2-3 zone defense midway through the second half, forcing Samford to shoot from outside on nearly every possession. The plan almost worked, with the Bulldogs only connecting on one of 12 3-pointers.

“It wasn’t particularly artistic for us in the second half,” Tillette said. “We missed a lot of shots.”