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Junior guard Jay Smith drives to the basket against Manchester College Wednesday evening at Lantz Arena. The Panthers won 82-53. (Dave Rigby / The Daily Eastern News)

Men's Basketball: Panthers travel to face IPFW

Mastodons led ranked Michigan State in first half of last game

By: Dan Cusack/Assistant Sports Editor

Posted: 11/21/08

The Eastern men's basketball team will try to win its second game of the season when the Panthers travel to Fort Wayne, Ind. to take on Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne at noon Saturday.

The Panthers (1-0) are coming off a complete team effort in an 82-53 win against Division III Manchester College on Wednesday at Lantz Arena.

All thirteen players on the roster saw action with each scoring points.

Eastern showed tough defense in the first half limiting the Spartans to 17 points.

Junior guard T.J. Marion said he hopes they can carry this into Saturday's game.

"I think in the first half we really got out as a good defensive team," Marion said. "We were strong and caused a lot of turnovers."

Junior forward Edin Suljic said the team ran the offense well despite Manchester giving them different defensive looks.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said the Panthers must rebound better if they want to beat the Mastodons.

"In the first half, I thought we showed some discipline on both ends of the floor," Miller said. "I was pleased with that. In the second half, not as much."

Miller said as the team continues to play this season, the players should mature and learn to keep the intensity going with large leads.

Despite its 0-2 record, IPFW has played a tough schedule so far this season.

The Mastodons opened their season at Xavier, who consistently has a chance of making the NCAA Tournament.

IPFW followed that with a home game against Michigan State, the No. 5 ranked team in the country by the Associated Press.

IPFW trailed 32-24 at halftime but started the second half with an 11-0 run to take a three-point lead at 35-32.

Michigan State then went on a run of its own later in the half, scoring 13 straight points to take a 55-44 lead.

"They play a style similar to ours," Miller said about the Mastodons. "They really try to defend in the half court. You can really see they try to stress fundamentals in how they play. They play smart. They're not particularly big on the front line. They'll play one big guy and they'll play a lot of (versatile players). They shoot and they drive it."

The Mastodons are led by sophomore guard Ben Botts.

Botts has scored 13 points per game through the two games this season, and he is the team's leading scorer.

In addition to the game Saturday, the Panthers will travel to Indianapolis on Monday for a game against Indiana-Purdue-Indianapolis at Conseco Field House - the home of the NBA's Indiana Pacers.

Miller said the game against the Jaguars would be a great opportunity for the players - especially with Thanksgiving Break - because the team would get to go down one day early and train at Conseco.

Miller said the Panthers' coaches are familiar with three of IUPUI's starters because Eastern recruited them. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.