HUTCHINSON, Kansas – As excited as Walters State’s men basketball coach Bill Carlyle was Monday night after being inducted in the NJCAA Hall of Fame, he was just as disappointed Tuesday night.

Carlyle’s Senators picked the worst time to put forth their worst effort of the season as Eastern Arizona tagged them with a 69-53 defeat in the opening round of the NJCAA national tournament.

Walters State suffered its second loss against 31 victories and now faces Eastern Wyoming (23-12), who dropped an 83-70 decision to Three Rivers (Mo.), Thursday at 11 a.m. Eastern Arizona improved to 28-5 and squares off with Three Rivers at 9 p.m. tonight.

“I don’t exactly know what our problem was, but the last three or four minutes, we didn’t compete,” said Carlyle. “We just didn’t play hard and I thought we gave up.

“We didn’t get a lot of production from our post players and that’s something we’ve been lacking for a couple of weeks now.”

The Senators held the lead for most of the first half before Eastern Arizona finished out the opening 20 minutes on a strong note, taking a 31-25 lead into the break.

In the second half, Eastern Arizona pulled out to a double-digit advantage before the Senators attempted a comeback. A 3-pointer by sophomore Terrance Britt narrowed Walters State’s deficit to 48-46 with less than five minutes left.

However, that was as close as the Senators got as Eastern Arizona finished the game n a 21-7 run.

“That was as disappointing as anything,” Carlyle said. “We worked hard to get back in the game and then, we just let them get away again.”

Nikola Keenan rifled in 23 points on 9-of-10 shooting from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe for Eastern Arizona. Will Bynum added 14 points for the winners while Chop Tang netted 13.

For the Senators, sophomore Sirlester Martin tossed in 12 points while freshman A.J. Thomas had 11 points, but made just 3-of-12 shots from the floor. Walters State was 20-of-53 from the field (8-of-29 from 3-point distance) for 37.7 percent.

“We lived by the 3 tonight, and tonight, we died by the 3,” Carlyle said. “When you take 29 shots from 3-point range, you better make more than eight of them.”

Now, the Senators are one loss away from having their fantastic season come to an abrupt end.