Sophomores Casey Teson, Marshawn Blackmon and Patrick Muldoon are transferring and will no longer play in the Eastern basketball program.

As a freshman, Teson was relied on heavily but saw his minutes severely decrease from 848 to 603 as a sophomore. In his freshman year Teson shared the team high in 3-pointers with 64, but that number dropped to 41 in his sophomore campaign.

Eastern was just not a fit for Teson.

“I wasn’t happy with the environment I was in and was wanting to be closer to home,” Teson said. “I haven’t decided on where I’m transferring but I should know within the next week or so. At my future school I want to bring the ability to score the ball and be a leader.”

Although Teson did not have the year he did in his freshman season, he was still a strong 3-point shooter that teams needed to be aware of. He did not get the shots to fall the same way, but his presence was key.

Teson is from St. Charles, Mo.

Blackmon dealt with an injury for much of his sophomore season with the Panthers, appearing in just eight games and tallying only 30 minutes. He scored 14 points this past season.

“I decided to transfer because i didn’t see myself being successful here at EIU,” Blackmon said. “I alos wanted to be in a better enviornment as far as basketball goes.”

As a freshman, he never started but appeared in all 30 games and played 357 minutes over the course of the season. 

He scored 107 points off the bench for the Panthers in the 2015-2016 season, which was second most of the bench players behind Muldoon.

Just as Teson said, Blackmon plans on going to a school closer to home. He is from St. Peters, Mo.

Even though Blackmon did not feel like he was going to be successful in an Eastern basketball uniform, he said he does hope that he can be a key asset in his new school’s program. Blackmon did not say where he plans to go. Just that he wants to be closer to home.

“I wish all my old teammates and coaching staff the best of luck next year.

Muldoon’s decision to leave Eastern is also to be closer to home. He is from Basehor, Kan. He has not decided where he is headed, however.

Muldoon was also a bench player in his two years at Eastern. Unlike Teson, Muldoon had an increase in minutes in his second season. In the 2016-2017 season, he scored
159 points.

The biggest thing he brought to the team was his energy. But even as a bench guy, Muldoon was active in the rebounding game.

He also had speed and height, he put in an effort that sometimes went unmatched. He was a big threat off the bench for Eastern.

“I plan to show up with the same attitude, energy, and effort at my new home that I did here,” Muldoon said. “I’ve been blessed with opportunities EIU has given me, but unfortunately it is time to make a change.”

Coach Jay Spoonhour coached the three sophomores for their two seasons.

“I appreciate their hard work and wish them well,” Spoonhour said. “All three are great people.”

These three transfers make it five players leaving the Eastern basketball program after this past season. Senior Demetrius McReynolds and redshirt senior Joe Kuligoski graduated.

Eastern will be an experienced team next year, though. With this year’s additions of junior starters Muusa Dama, Ray Crossland and Montell Goodwin will compliment nicely with Terrell Lewis going into his senior year.

Assuming those four continue to start next year, the Panthers will have to find just one more player to have a “set” starting five. And if no one else transfers, Eastern will return eight players for next season.

Besides the four players already mentioned, returning for the Panthers will be Aboubacar Diallo, Lucas Jones, DeVantae’ Price, Logan Koch.

Koch will be a sophomore, Diallo will be a junior, Jones will be a junior and Price will be a redshirt senior.

The loss of Teson, Blackmon and Muldoon will leave some extra spaces for the Panthers to fill, but Eastern still has an incoming class on the way.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].