Eureka stumbles in men's basketball season opener at Rockford
ROCKFORD, Ill. – Eureka College senior guard Sam Feehan(Peoria, Ill./Notre Dame [Illinois Central]) compiled 22 second-half points, but Rockford's Zach Wallace poured in a game-high 27 points to lift the host Regents to a 100-77 non-conference victory over the Red Devils, Friday evening at the Seavers Center in Rockford, Ill.
With the score at 25-21 in favor of the host, the Regents went on to close out the first half on a 24-2 run to build a 49-23 lead at the break, backed by 20 of 37 (.541) shooting from the field.
Junior forward Parker Gibson (Pontiac, Ill./Pontiac [St. John's NW Military]) and freshman guard Hank Thomas (Peoria, Ill./Richwoods) paced Eureka in the first half with six points apiece. Wallace led the Regents with 18 points over the first 20 minutes of action.
Rockford (1-0, 0-0 NACC) continued their hot shooting in the second half, extending their lead to as many as 32 points (62-30) early in the second half. The Regents led by 20 or more points for the duration of the final half of play. Feehan scored nearly half of Eureka's 54 second-half points, behind 8 of 12 shooting from the field and a 4 of 6 effort from beyond the arc.
Freshman forward Alex Wiegand (Washington, Ill./Washington) provided Eureka with 11 points in his first collegiate contest.
RU's Michael Murray registered 18 points and collected 13 rebounds for a double-double.
Rockford outrebounded Eureka 50-31, and the Red Devils forced the Regents to commit 16 turnovers to just 10 committed by EC.
Eureka College Statistics, Leaders
Field Goal Percentage -.392 (29-74)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - .310 (9-29)
Free Throw Percentage - .667 (10-15)
Feehan (22 points, 3 assists)
Gibson (13 points, 9 rebounds)
Kent (10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists)
Rockford University Statistics, Leaders
Field Goal Percentage - .565 (39-69)
3-Point Field Goal Percentage - .391 (9-23)
Free Throw Percentage - .813 (13-16)
Wallace (27 points, 7 rebounds)
Murray (18 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists)
Ross Arteaga (15 points, 6 assists)
What's Next?
Eureka (0-1, 0-0 SLIAC) will continue non-conference action tomorrow with another road contest against division I opponent Loyola University Chicago. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and can be watched live on ESPN3.