Issue date: 11/13/09 Section: Sports

Eastern senior center Ousmane Cisse prepares to shoot a free throw against Olivet Nazarene Tuesday night in Lantz Arena. The Panthers defeated the Tigers 72-70 in the exhibition game and play Toledo Saturday. (Rachel Morris/The Daily Eastern News)

The Eastern men's basketball team made its exhibition game a little too close for comfort.

The Panthers, hopefully, won't need a last second shot as they begin the regular season on 6 p.m. Saturday against Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.

The Panthers are coming off a dramatic 72-70 exhibition win against NAIA Olivet Nazarene, in which Eastern sophomore guard Jeremy Granger was able to make a shot with only 1.7 seconds remaining left in the game.

Eastern head coach Mike Miller said heading into Saturday's game the team has been focusing on finding both consistency and an inside presence.

"We have been working to improve on several things throughout the off-season," Miller said. "We're working on being more consistent on both ends of the court. Overall, that's probably our primary focus, but we are working on having more of an inside presence on both offense and defense."

Miller said because of the strong level of competition during the preseason and the exhibition game, he is expecting the Panthers to be prepared for what they will face against Toledo.

Olivet Nazarene Tigers are 2-0 in other games this season and ranked 25th in the NAIA Division I preseason poll.

Toledo lost its only exhibition game to Central State (Ohio) Tuesday in Toledo.

The Rockets are expected to return two starters from a 7-25 team.

"We have had a good level of competition throughout the preseason and in our practices, which can only benefit the players," Miller said. "The season really goes through different stages and with preseason it's sometimes difficult because after a few days the players are ready to play in the games. So, it really has been beneficial to us to have such a high level of competition in our practices and games leading into Toledo."

In addition to the high level of competition the Panthers have been displaying, they also have the benefit of experience returning to this season's basketball team.

The Panthers will be returning four starters from last season to the current team, which includes last season's leading scorer senior guard Romain Martin.

Martin averaged 13.6 points per game last season for the Panthers, but Martin said that for Eastern to be successful against Toledo, they would need to translate their efforts during practice to a live-game situation.

"We need to play hard and carry over what coach has been telling us in practice to the actual game on Saturday," Martin said.

Despite Martin's past contributions to the Eastern basketball team, the Panthers will also be looking for help from new players, junior guard Curry McKinney and freshman forward Shaun Pratl.

Pratl had 10 rebounds against the Tigers on Tuesday night. Junior guard Tyler Laser, Granger and senior center Ousmane Cisse are the expected starters for the Panthers. Laser is a preseason Ohio Valley Conference selection along with Martin.

The Panthers will also rely on senior guard T.J. Marion. Marion earned All-OVC Newcomer honors last season.

McKinney said it will be important for the Eastern squad to get off to a good start against Toledo.

"Our exhibition game was filled with ups and downs, so it will be important for us to develop an offensive rhythm early against Toledo," McKinney said.

Neil Schneider can be reached at 581-7944 or
jnschneider@eiu.edu.

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