Greenville Avoids Getting Swept by Eureka, 115-108
GREENVILLE, Ill. – It didn't come together for the Eureka men's basketball team at Greenville on Wednesday.
The Red Devils came up short in their bid of a season sweep of the Panthers, falling 115-108.
The result moved EC to 13-11 on the season and 9-4 in St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) racked up a season-high 37 points on 17-of-25 shooting from the floor in the loss, while adding six rebounds, three assists and a steal. It was the most points he has scored since dropping 56 against Greenville for MacMurray College on Jan. 8, 2020.
Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood/Illinois College) posted his third career double-double, posting 28 points and a career-high 14 rebounds. Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) tallied 23 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals.
J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) notched eight points and distributed a team-high seven assists. He also added four rebounds and three steals. Point guard Jalen Hosea (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) contributed four assists, four rebounds and two steals while not committing a single turnover against Greenville's press.
Eureka had a slim lead for most of the first half and held a three-point advantage at halftime. In the second half, however, the Red Devils cooled down exactly when the Panthers started to heat up.
Tied at 70-70 with 14:30 remaining, the home team went on a 7-0 run. Within two minutes, the Red Devils were up back within a point, but the Panthers came back strong and stretched the lead out to eight with less than nine minutes to play.
The home team managed to hang on to its cushion until the last couple of minutes when EC mounted its last run.
Trailing by nine, Crawford knocked down a jumper, Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) followed it with a steal and McKinty hit a jumper to cut it to five.
Following a Greenville turnover, a bucket through contact by Dorethy, and subsequent free throw, made it a two-point game at 108-106 with 58 seconds left.
Greenville's Kenneth Cooley answered with a jumper on the other end. Eureka had a chance to make it a one-possession game with a quick bucket on the other hand, but McKinty missed three times near the rim, forcing EC to foul to stop the clock. The Panthers went 5-for-6 from the line in the last 31 seconds to sew it up.
Greenville managed to force 24 Eureka turnovers, make 13 3-pointers and shoot 43 percent from the floor – a solid percentage for a system that prioritizes quantity of shots over efficiency. Cooley led Greenville with 21 points, including four 3-pointers. He was followed by Romello Ball (18 points), Julius Erby (14 points), Jarred Johnson (13 points), Kaidyn Johnson (12 points) and Travis Dickey (10 points).
Eureka shot 58.5 percent from the field – a strong number against any other team, but a lower than usual ratio for a Greenville game.
On Saturday, the Red Devils (13-11, 9-4) will look to close out the regular season strong with a Senior Day victory over Principia (9-13, 5-8 SLIAC).