Fontbonne Bests Eureka in Key Rematch, 87-71

EUREKA – Eureka couldn't catch up with Fontbonne after an uncharacteristically slow start on Saturday and fell 87-71 to the Griffins in a key rematch between the top teams in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.

The highly anticipated matchup began with the Griffins taking a 24-2 lead in the first 10 minutes of the game, giving the Red Devils a mighty hill to climb the rest of the way.

The maroon and gold managed to trim the lead to 11 points by halftime and came within single digits in the second half, but it wasn't their day. The final result extended the Griffins' winning streak to eight games, and ended the Red Devils' at five.

Fontbonne's Caden Clark tallied a game-high 35 points on 11-of-14 shooting from the field and 12-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line. Kevin Anders and Carter Collins added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Fontbonne shot 55.6 percent in the second half and 50.8 on the game. The Griffins forced 13 turnovers in the first half. The Red Devils took significantly better care of the ball in the second half, only conceding two turnovers.

J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) made four 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 19 points for Eureka. Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) and Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood/Illinois College) followed with 16 points apiece. Milsteadt hit 3 of 5 from distance and gathered 10 defensive rebounds to record a double-double.

Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) notched 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

The Red Devils (12-10, 8-3 SLIAC) will look to bounce back on Monday, when they head on the road to take on Principia (9-11, 5-6 SLIAC) for the first time this season at 7 p.m.