Eureka Improves to 8-3 with 84-77 win over Westminster

EUREKA — The Eureka men's basketball team handled Westminster's hard-nosed physicality and stayed at the top of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference with an 84-77 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday.

The Red Devils are now 8-3 on the season and 4-1 in SLIAC play. They remain one of two teams in the league with only one loss.

The Red Devils got big production from their leading scorers Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) and Chris Daniels (Peoria, Ill./Peoria). The former dropped 27 points, gathered six rebounds, had two blocks, one assist and one steal.

The latter put up 22 while pulling down a career-high 11 rebounds and dishing a team-high five assists. The pair combined to go 14-for-14 at the free-throw line.

As a team, the Red Devils went 16-for-17 from the line and shot 54.7 percent from the field.

Jaedon Banks (Peoria Heights, Ill./Peoria Heights) added 12 points and six rebounds with an assist and a block. Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood) contributed nine points off the bench.

J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) and Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) each chipped in with five.

The Red Devils went into halftime up 45-41 and led by as many 15 in the second half.

A 3-pointer by Westminster's Jaxon Althaus put the Blue Jays up 50-49, then EC answered by scoring 13 straight to regain control.

Westminster came up within five down the stretch, but the Red Devils absorbed every hit they took and closed out the win.

On Wednesday, Eureka (8-3, 4-1 SLIAC) will take on Blackburn (6-1, 5-1 SLIAC) on the road in a matchup between the only teams in the league with one loss. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.