EC men keep postseason hopes alive with win at Blackburn

CARLINVILLE, Ill. – Senior Sam Feehan (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame [Illinois Central]) scored a game-high 19 points, leading the Eureka College men's basketball team to a 67-50 St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Blackburn, Wednesday night inside Dawes Gymnasium.

Eureka sits at 11-13 overall and 9-8 in conference play. The Red Devils still have a shot to clinch one of the remaining spots in SLIAC Tournament. Blackburn drops to 10-14 overall and 9-8 in conference.

Blackburn jumped out to an early 10-2 lead just over five minutes into the contest, but Eureka clawed their way back to even the contest, 15-15, with 9:50 left in the half. EC built up a slight advantage and continued to hold on to the lead throughout the remainder of the first half.

Eureka continued to hold on to a thin lead early on in the second half, but Blackburn slowly trimmed the deficit and tied the contest at 39-39 at the 14:04 mark. After exchanging a pair of leads Eureka used a 21-3 run over the final 8:48 of play to pull away.

Freshman Shea Feehan (Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame [Lewis]) had a solid outing scoring 16 points and grabbing nine rebounds. Senior Tommy Goulding (Aurora, Ill./West Aurora [Aurora]) provided ten points off the bench over nine minutes of action.

The Red Devils shot 45.8 percent (22-of-48) from the floor to Blackburn's 34.5 percent (19-of-55). Eureka outrebounded the host by a narrow margin, 34-30. Senior Greg Kent (Chicago, Ill./Richards [Blackhawk]) grabbed a team-high ten rebounds.

Blackburn's Jake Maestranzi and DeAndre Manuel led the Beavers in scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Eureka (11-13, 9-8 SLIAC) will close out the 2015-16 regular season with a trip to Greenville College on Saturday. Tip-off against the Panthers is set for 3 p.m.