Evansville freshman guard Kavon Lacey took charge of the final three minutes to defeat Eastern men’s basketball team in an ESPNU BracketBuster game Saturday night at Lantz Arena.

The Alton native scored six points in the final 2 minutes, 4 seconds to hand Eastern its 22nd loss of the season as the Panthers fell to the Purple Aces 63-55.

It is the most losses in Eastern history, breaking the mark set by the 2003-04 team and the 2005-06 team. Both of those teams finished with 6-21 records.

The Panthers trailed the Purple Aces with less than two and a half minutes remaining, when Lacey beat an Eastern defender on the left side and made a tough lay-up, which extended Evansville’s lead to four, 55-51.

Eastern responded when sophomore center Ousmane Cisse was able to tip in the ball after senior center Jake Bryne’s missed a 3-pointer and cut the lead to two, 55-53.

Lacey delivered another blow with 53 seconds remaining when he knocked down a jumper from the far left side of the key and buried Eastern’s chance at victory.

The Panthers (5-22, 4-14 Ohio Valley Conference) suffered another injury in the first half, making them switch their game plan.

Senior guard Julio Anthony left the game with 7:26 remaining in the first half when he collided with an Evansville player while he made a pass while leading a fast break.

Anthony did not return to the game and sat at the end of the bench with a sling on his right shoulder in the second half.

“It forced a lot of people to do some things they don’t normally do,” said Eastern head coach Mike Miller. “It forced everybody to do a little bit more and forced us to use different combinations and different formations.

Miller said the loss of Anthony might have been the reason for inconsistent play in the final minutes of the game.

“Julio is usually our primary ball-handler down the stretch, and I think it got a little bit choppy because guys had to do different things,” Miller said.

Senior guard Bam Willhite moved to the point guard position, and the Kalamazoo, Mich., native responded with a season-high 10 assists.

“It really hurt us when Anthony went out because I had to play the (point guard position),” Willhite said. “It changed up our game plan a lot, but we kind of killed ourselves on the defensive end of the floor.”

Evansville junior guard Jason Holsinger led all scores with 14 points, but he was held to just 2-of-8 shooting from 3-point range. Holsinger is shooting 44 percent from beyond the arc this season.

Byrne led the Panthers with 11 points, and he has led Eastern in scoring the past four games. Cisse added 10 points.

The game was a seesaw from tip-off. There were 15 lead changes, and the game was tied eight times. Evansville had the largest lead of the game, but not until the end of the game (8 points).

Willhite said the inability to get stops was the reason the Purple Aces (9-18, 3-13 Missouri Valley Conference) were able to pull away.

“They were making their shots, and we could not match them,” Willhite said.

Evansville finished 13-of-20 from the field in the second half.

“We really needed to get a stop,” said Eastern freshman guard Tyler Laser. “We got beat off the dribble. It’s about grinding down. You have to do whatever you can to get a stop.”

Miller said his team was in a good position at the end of the game but needed to make one more play.

“All you can do is put yourself in a position to win games,” Miller said. “The last five minutes, you have to be there – and we did that. I have been telling our guys we just need to make one more play. And with a minute left, we had to make that stop. We have to be able to make that play.”

Laser said Evansville did not do anything different than he expected them to do, but the Purple Aces were able to execute against the Panthers.

The Panthers will play Jacksonville State at 7:15 p.m. Thursday at Lantz Arena.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at [email protected].