Red Devils’ Run Ends in SLIAC Semis Against Blackburn, 89-77
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka men's basketball team's 2022 postseason run came to an end Friday night with an 89-77 loss to Blackburn in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament semifinals.
After besting the Beavers twice in the regular season, the Red Devils ended up on the wrong side of a SLIAC slugfest with elimination on the line.
Eureka led by two at halftime after shaking off a slow start, and appeared to have swung the momentum their way eight minutes into the second half. However, it was a game of runs, and Blackburn delivered its best one at an inopportune time for the maroon and gold.
In a tight second half, the Red Devils went on a 9-2 run, with a layup by Charlie Mckinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood/Illinois College) on assist by J'Len Crawford (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington) giving EC a 59-53 lead with 12:08 left.
Blackburn scored a pair of layups to bring it back to a two-point game. Eureka's Ian Milsteadt (East Peoria, Ill./East Peoria/Illinois Central College) made a pair of free throws and McKinty scored another layup to make it a four-point game, but each time, Blackburn's Chanz Aldridge answered on the other end.
The Beavers tied the game with a pair of free throws to knot it up at 63-63 with less than seven minutes left. Milsteadt regained the lead for the Red Devils on a 3-pointer on the next possession. It ended up being EC's last of the game.
Stovall came back with another layup to make it a one-point lead. Then, an Aldridge steal later, Blackburn's Bryson Kirby knocked down the first of three straight triples for the Beavers. Aldridge hit one following another EC turnover and Kirby drained another to make it 74-66 with 4:40 left.
The Red Devil still had time to mount a run of their own. A pair of free throws by Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) and a three-point play by Jalen Hosea (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) brought EC within three with 3:33 left.
But Stovall responded with a layup to bring it back to five, and after a missed layup, the Red Devils were forced to switch to stop-the-clock mode. The Beavers successfully pulled away at the line from there.
Hosea, the Red Devils' venerable, four-year point guard, tallied a team-high and season-high 18 points in his last collegiate game. He shot 7-for-10 from the field while adding three 3s, three assists and two rebounds. After the game, he was named to the SLIAC All-Defensive Team.
McKinty followed with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting, knocking down 2 of 4 3-pointers, grabbing five rebounds, distributing a pair of assists and getting a steal. He received Third Team All-SLIAC honors.
Milsteadt posted his third double-double of the season in last collegiate game.
Playing with an injured thumb and dealing with double-teams nearly every time he touched the ball, the senior guard notched an even 12 points and 12 rebounds while going 6-for-6 from the line and getting a steal and a block.
With the block, he took sole possession of 10th place in program history in career blocks with 43. He is third all-time in program history in free-throw percentage at 84.1 percent, and he finished his career as one of 26 players in program history to reach 1,000 points, racking up 1,021 points in just 62 games. After the game, he was named SLIAC Player of the Year, as well as First Team All-SLIAC for the second straight year.
Dorethy, who was named to the All-SLIAC Second Team in his first year as a Red Devil, also finished with 12 points while battling through beatings in the post and pulling down six boards.
Crawford, another Red Devil senior, tallied 10 points, distributed a team-high four assists and had two rebounds in his final collegiate game.
Aldridge and Stovall finished with 27 and 24 points, respectively, to lead the Beavers. Blackburn will take on the winner of Fontbonne and Webster at 4 p.m. Saturday in the SLIAC Championship.
The Red Devils finished the 2021-22 season with a 15-12 record after making it to the SLIAC Tournament semifinals for the first time since 2019. They placed second in the SLIAC with a 10-4 league record and ultimately fell one win short of competing for the conference title.
