Divertor detachment is crucial for particle and power exhaust in future fusion reactors. The EAST lower tungsten divertor, with its ‘corner slot’ structure, exhibits remarkable geometric closure, and thus enhances neutral trapping. In this work, SOLPS-ITER modeling based on EAST experiments is conducted to explore the underlying mechanisms of the effects of strike point location on energy and particle detachment. Three H-mode cases with strike point locations on the horizontal target, corner and vertical target are selected for the investigation. Comparisons of the detachment thresholds between the three cases via density scan modeling demonstrate satisfactory consistency with experiments. It is found that among the three cases the horizontal target has the lowest detachment threshold. This is attributed to recycled neutrals accumulating in the closed corner to form a neutral cushion with intense neutral–plasma interactions, where energy and momentum losses are more significant. Furthermore, the energy and momentum losses are closely linked, and the correlation between volumetric losses and target temperature is established. Additionally, the contributions of different collisions on the energy and momentum balance in the particle detachment regime are quantitatively evaluated. The simulations indicate that atom–plasma charge exchange collisions make significant contributions to the momentum loss, thus reducing the ion flux to the target; meanwhile, molecule–plasma elastic collisions play a key role in the closed corner with strong molecule accumulation. Molecule-associated recombination also provides a potential volumetric recombination channel to reduce the ion target flux. This study improves the understanding of strike point location and neutral–plasma collisions on momentum and energy detachment, which is important for divertor optimization and heat flux control, supporting long-pulse detachment operation in EAST.