Cornell Tops Red Devils on Opening Night, 82-68
EUREKA – The Eureka men's basketball team opened the season with a tough, 82-68 non-conference loss against Cornell at home Friday.
It was the first home basketball game at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center in 622 days.
Junior Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood) dropped a career-high 29 points, shooting 9-for-14 from the floor and knocking down a career-high eight 3-pointers on 13 attempts from beyond the arc. He led all scorers and also added three rebounds and two assists.
Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria) added 14 points with seven rebounds and a team-high six assists and a team-high three steals.
Jordan Brooks (St. Joseph, Ill./St Jospeh-Ogden) contributed eight points with a pair of 3s in his first start as a Red Devil.
Center transfer from Hannibal LaGrange Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock) pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, with six comping on the offensive end. Fellow big man, sophomore Lane Thompson (Dwight, Ill./Dwight) added seven points off the bench.
J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) recorded five points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Jalen Hosea (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) had three assists, two steals and two points.
The Red Devils stayed with the Rams early on, trailing just 11-9 five minutes into the game. However, the visitors got hot, going on a 16-0 run to take a 27-9 lead.
A 3-pointer with less than eight minutes remaining in the first half by Milsteadt ended the run and started an 11-point swing for the Red Devils, bringing EC within three points four minutes later.
That ended up being the closest EC came to Cornell the rest of the game, but the home team never went away.
Eureka trailed the Rams by 12 at half but quickly trimmed the lead to five just a few minutes into the second half.
Cornell came back and stretched the lead to double digits, then a game-high 19 points with less than 10 minutes to go.
A 14-0 Red Devils run made it a six-point with less than six to play, but Cornell's Marcus Quirk drilled a deep 3-pointer to end it and his bucket a couple minutes late stretched it to double-digits.
By then, the Red Devils were fouling to stop the clock and Cornell was able to make enough free throws to seal a double-digit win. Eureka scored just two fewer points than the Rams in the second half.
Cornell's Cooper Kabela tallied a team-high 24 points and Quirk followed with 23. Jordan Mangnani and Julian Clearly each added 11. The Rams won the rebound battle 56-36 and were able to put up 22 second-chance points and score 38 in the paint.
Eureka will next look to challenge itself in Newark, New Jersey on Friday when the Red Devils take on Utica in the John K. Adams Tip-Off Classic at Rutgers-Newark. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m.
