Turnovers cost Eastern’s men’s basketball team a critical Ohio Valley Conference win Saturday against Jacksonville State.

The Panthers committed 16 turnovers, while Jacksonville had 8.

When Eastern had more turnovers than its opponent, the score was 2-10. The Gamecocks turned the Panthers’ 16 turnovers into 16 points.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said turnovers were the main reason for the team’s loss.

With fewer than eight minutes to play, Eastern was down 36-37. Junior guard L.C. Doss missed a three-point shot, then Jacksonville knocked down two free-throws giving them a 39-36 lead.

The Panthers then turned the ball over on their next four possessions, leading to a 10-0 Jacksonville run to put the Gamecocks up 47-36. Eastern made a few shots down the stretch, but it never came closer than eight points in the final three minutes.

The game ended 56-46 and the Panthers dropped to 8-13 overall and 4-7 in the OVC, this marks their third straight loss.

It was the second straight win for Jacksonville State, which improved to 4-18 overall and 2-9 in the conference.

The Panthers were led by sophomore forward Shaun Pratl with 14 points and six rebounds. Junior guard Jeremy Granger also had 14 points and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

“We made too many mistake tonight to even expect to win,” Pratl said.

A positive point for Eastern was red-shirt sophomore forward James Hollowell, who had a career-high six assists. He also grabbed seven rebounds, but he was held scoreless, going 0 for 5 from the field.

Hollowell said it is tough to explain an up and down game like this one.

“I have to get more aggressive and get easy lay-ups,” Hollowell said.

The Panthers out-preformed Jacksonville in almost every statistical category: shooting percentage (38 percent to 35 percent), rebounding (34 to 29) and assists (16-13), but one area they struggled was getting to the foul line.

The Gamecocks shot 19 more free throws than Eastern, going 17-24 while the Panthers were 5-5.

Eastern has a week off before they take on Southeast Missouri at Lantz Arena on Feb. 5.

“We need to use this time to get better and get back to the team we were,” Pratl said.

Rob Mortell can be reached at 581-7944 or [email protected].