Red Devils Roll Past Webster for Third SLIAC Win, 87-66
EUREKA – The Eureka men's basketball team led from wire to wire against Webster on Tuesday, improving to 3-1 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a notable 87-66 win over the Gorloks.
After conceding their first league loss of the season over the weekend at Spalding, the Red Devils came back and posted their largest margin of victory over Webster in program history.
Junior transfer Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) led the way for the maroon and gold with a well-rounded performance that included a game-high 22 points, a team-high eight rebounds and a season-high four assists. The big man shot 8-for-12 from the floor and went 6-for-6 at the foul line.
He was one of four Red Devils to reach double figures on the night. Senior and leading scorer Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./Illinois Central College) followed with 19 points on 7-for-14 shooting, with three triples in four tries and seven rebounds.
Fellow senior J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) notched 18 points while connecting 6 of 6 3-pointer tries. He also gathered six boards and distributed four assists.
Junior guard Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) continued to shoot and move the ball with confidence, knocking down 5 of 7 from the field and finishing with 11 points.
Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood/Illinois College) added eight points, and Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) chipped in with six points and provided quality interior defense off the bench. Senior point guard Jalen Hosea (Peoria, Ill./Richwood) registered a team-high five assists.
The Red Devils shot 49.2 percent from the field on the night, went 10-for-19 from distance for a season-high 52.6 3-point field-goal percentage and only missed two free throws (13 for 15).
The team outrebounded Webster by one, 42-41, with 12 boards coming off the offensive glass. EC tied for a season-low with seven turnovers on the night and notched 19 assists – 10 more than on the road at Spalding.
Eureka gave itself its first 12-point cushion late in the first half after going on an 8-0 run that included three straight buckets by Dorethy one and by Milsetadt. Gonzalez' second triple of the night gave EC its second 12-point lead of the night.
Webster never made it to within single digits in the second half.
After cutting the lead to 11 with 10:51 left, EC scored the next five to make it a 16-point advantage, and the Red Devils kept rolling from there.
A pair of Dorethy free throws with 3:42 remaining stretched the lead to a game-high 24 points at 81-57.
Webster's Wynn Browne Jr. finished with a team-high 13 points, while Javane Nugent and Mark Moore each had 10. Karl Moore grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds and was a point shy of a double-double. The Red Devils held forward Rodson Etienne scoreless in 21 minutes on the night.
The Red Devils (7-8, 3-1 SLIAC) will head back on the road on Saturday to take on Fontbonne (6-4, 2-0) at 3 p.m. The Griffins are the only team in the SLIAC without a league loss.
