Red Devils Fall Short at Blackburn, 73-62
CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Eureka men's basketball team dropped its St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener at Blackburn on Saturday, 73-62.
The Red Devils were within a few points for most of the second half, but they weren't able to get enough buckets or stops in the last eight minutes to make up the difference.
Eureka's Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual/Lincoln) and Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) combined for 49 points for the Red Devils.
Baer posted his fourth double-double of the season, putting up 24 points and pulling down 14 rebounds, while Brown led all scorers with 25 points, along with six rebounds, four assists and three steals.
The Beavers finished with four players in double figures, with Darius Duff leading the way with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Izayah Talmadge followed with 13 points, while Brody Barr and Tyson Johnson contributed 12 and 11 points off the bench, respectively. Blackburn benefitted from 27 points courtesy of its bench.
The Red Devils held a slim lead at 7-4 early on, but the Beavers went on a 10-0 and didn't trail again the rest of the way.
A layup by Brown in the last minute of the first half brough EC within three, but Talmadge answered with a layup off an assist by Cameron Johnson to make it a 37-32 at halftime.
Eureka's Ben Carter (Morton ,Ill./Morton) opened the second half with a dunk and a 3-pointer off an assist by Baer to tie it up at 37-37. But, after a timeout, the Beavers hit a 3 to regain the lead.
The Red Devils tied it again with a dunk by Baer a couple of minutes later, but Barr drew a foul and made a pair of free throws to give the advantage back to the home team.
The lead stayed within two possessions until the Beavers stretched it to eight with 5:23 remaining with a layup by Duff and extended it to double-digits for the first time since the first half a couple of minutes later.
On Wednesday, Eureka (2-4, 0-1 SLIAC) will welcome Webster (2-5, 1-1 SLIAC) to Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center for the first home SLIAC game of the year. The Gorloks have split their first league matchups with Westminster, falling to the Blue Jays 71-70 on Nov. 21 on the road and beating them 79-55 at home on Saturday.