Eureka Bests, Sweeps Blue Jays, 85-69
EUREKA – Eureka's Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) racked up 24 points and 19 rebounds on Saturday, leading the Red Devils to an 85-69 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Westminster.
The win at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center clinched a season series sweep over the Blue Jays and the team's second sweep of the week, following Wednesday's 85-69 victory over Blackburn. It also moved EC (7-14) to 5-5 in conference play.
Baer shot 7-for-13 from the field and made 9 of 12 from the free-throw line. It was his fourth time recording 15 rebounds or more this season. He also added two steals, two assists and two blocks.
Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual/Lincoln) followed with 19 points. He was a constant threat off the drive, and he made 5 of 8 from the line on the day.
Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) added 14 points on an efficient 5-of-8 shooting, distributed a team-high six assists and gathered five rebounds.
Noah Persich (Peoria, Ill./Metamora/Parkland) notched 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting, while Ben Carter (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) both contributed eight points. Dorethy grabbed seven rebounds.
Eureka asserted control in the first few minutes of the game.
The maroon and gold scored 10 unanswered points, prompting a Westminster timeout with 13:48 left in the first half. Then, the Red Devils came out of the timeout and ripped off a 12-4 run to take a 15-point lead and force the Blue Jays to regroup again with less than 10 minutes until halftime.
The Blue Jays successfully trimmed the lead to five with a 3-pointer by Jaxon Althaus with 2:02 left, but the Red Devils ended up going into the half with a nine-point advantage.
Westminster hung around and kept it competitive for the first 10 minutes of the second half. A bucket by Brysan Jeffries brought the Blue Jays within four with 9:37 left.
On cue, the Red Devils scored the next 12 points to make it a 16-point game with a little over five minutes left. The visitors pushed back, but Eureka held them off from there.
The Red Devils shot 54.4 percent from the field to Westminster's 38 percent, and the team outrebounded the visitors 45-32.
Althaus recorded a team-high 22 points for the Blue Jays while shooting 8-for-17 from the field, gathering six boards and registering a team-high four steals.
Ben Enberlin posted 15 points in 16 minutes off the bench, and Brennan Jeffries chipped in with 11.
On Wednesday, the Red Devils (7-14, 5-5 SLIAC) will look to get one back from Webster (10-11, 7-3 SLIAC) on the road. The Gorloks are currently tied for second in the SLIAC standings, but they have lost their last three games. They previously edged Eureka late in a 67-59 win at The Reagan on Jan. 18.
