Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Sports

Sophomore forward Billy Parrish boxes out Samford's freshman forward Bryan Friday during Eastern's 45-71 loss at Samford on Saturday. (Photo Courtesy of Samford Sports Information)

Samford closed out Seibert Hall in grand style.

Eastern closed out its season with a dismal performance.

For the third time in the last four years, Eastern will not qualify for the eight-team Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

And it's all about how they started Saturday's game against Samford that led to their 20th loss of the year.

The Panthers got off to a slow start in Birmingham, Ala., and could not recover en route to a 71-45 loss to Samford, in the Bulldogs' final game at the 45-yeard old Seibert Hall.

Even if Eastern had defeated the Bulldogs, the Panthers' season still would have ended without qualifying for the OVC Tournament.

The Panthers needed to win at Samford, Jacksonville State to beat Southeast Missouri and Morehead State to lose at Austin Peay.

Only one of those situations played out, with JSU beating SEMO.

Eastern lost and Morehead State beat Austin Peay 82-77.

Eastern's postseason fate had already been sealed five hours prior to the conclusion of SEMO's game.

Eastern missed seven of its first eight shots and fell behind 9-2.

"Anytime that happens, it's hard to come back because we've got to play catch up a lot," said Eastern guard Romain Martin. "Then, since we didn't make any shots, it let our defense slip a bit."

The Bulldogs kept up their early pace, heading into halftime leading 31-15.

"We were able to get off to a good start today, and I thought that the key for our defense was stopping their shooters," said Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette.

First-half shooting for both teams was subpar but Eastern's inability to make layups and Samford's ability to connect on 3-pointers helped give Samford the early lead.

Eastern shot 25 percent (six of 24) in the first half, while Samford made 39 percent (nine of 23), and four 3-pointers.

"I think a lot of it was we were playing their game instead of playing the way we wanted to play," said Eastern junior center Jake Byrne.

The Panthers cut their deficit to 13 within the first two minutes of the second half, but an 18-3 Samford run upped the Bulldogs' lead to 51-23 with 13:19 left to play

"We just didn't finish plays," said Eastern junior forward Bobby Catchings. "I don't think it was anything Samford did. Guys just didn't make plays when they needed to."

Samford did make the plays and ended a five-game losing streak before heading into Tuesday's first-round tournament game at No. 4 seed Murray State.

"We were able to get the win today and that's all that really matters," Samford senior guard Jerry Smith said. "We needed this win because we've been struggling as of late and hopefully we can take this positive momentum with us into the OVC Tournament."

Eastern can carry the positive momentum of winning five of its last eight OVC games, but missed out on the OVC Tournament for the second straight year.

"We just felt like we had a bad January," Martin said of the month when Eastern lost seven of its eight games. "We feel if we would have won a couple games, we'd still be playing."

-For complete box score click here.

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