Olivet Holds Off Red Devils, 75-71

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka men's basketball team couldn't catch up with Olivet on Saturday.

The Comets held off the Red Devils 75-71 in the consolation game of the 38th Annual Lopata Classic at Washington University.

Eureka's Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill,./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) was named to the All-Tournament team after following his 28-point, 13-rebound performance on Friday with a game-high 19 points and 22 rebounds on Saturday.

The 6-foot-10 junior forward is one of only five players in the country to rack up 22 rebounds in a game this season, and is the first Red Devil to reach 20 since Greg Kent's 20-board game in a 65-59 win over Iowa Wesleyan on Feb. 24, 2015.

In his second game of the season, senior forward Charlie McKinty (Elmwood, Ill./Elmwood/Illinois College) posted 13 points, three assists and a pair of rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.

Junior guard Noah Persich (Peoria, Ill./Metamora/Parkland) added 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers. Senior big man Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) contributed nine points and nine rebounds.

Fellow seniors Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) and Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) had eight and six points, respectively. Another senior, Blake Castonguay (Watseka, Ill./Watseka/Illinois College) distributed a team-high four assists.

Eureka trailed nearly the whole game, but the team briefly tied it up twice in the first half.

A three-point play by Baer with 6:49 left in the first half made it 21-21. Then, after Olivet's Ryan Robinette regained the lead with a layup, a bucket on a second-chance opportunity by Dorethy tied it up again at 23-23 with 5:25 left in the first half.

The Comets answered with a 10-0 run that prompted an EC timeout. The Red Devils, however, scored the last nine point of the half to make it 33-32 at the break.

Olivet managed to keep Eureka at bay in the second half, despite the Red Devil knocking on the door for much of the second half.

Olivet's Derrick Johnson scored a team-high 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting. Lorris Upshaw and Robinette notched 14 and 12 points, respectively.

Despite the loss, the Red Devils finished with two more rebounds (52-50) and one more assist (13-12) than the Comets.

Eureka (1-8) will next take on NCAA Division I Western Illinois (4-4) on the road on Friday, Dec. 16 at 7:30 p.m.