Eureka Drops Close Contest at Rockford, 79-76
ROCKFORD – The Eureka men's basketball team dropped a close one at Rockford on Saturday night.
The Red Devils led for most of the second half, but the Regents forced two turnovers in the last minute of the game, went ahead and held on for a 79-76 win.
Eureka's Noah Persich (Peoria, Ill./Metamora/Parkland) posted a team-high and season-high 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field and 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.
Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) and Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) each contributed 11 points, with the latter going 3-for-3 from distance. Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal-LaGrange) and Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) each had eight points. Dorethy collected a team-high six rebounds.
Ben Carter (Morton, Ill./Morton) dished a team-high four assists to go with five points and two boards. Baer, Dorethy and Ellison each had three assists.
The home team had the upper hand for most of the first half. The Regents led by as many as 10, but the Red Devils came storming back with a 14-2 run.
A Persich jumper cut the lead to one point and prompted a Rockford timeout with 4:48 remaining. Then, on the next EC possession, Persich knocked down a go-ahead 3-pointer. A Castonguay lay-up gave Eureka a four-point edge, but the Regents managed to tie it up at 39-39 before the half.
The Red Devils opened the second-half with a 12-2 run to take a double-digit lead in less than five minutes.
Rockford, however, chipped away and stayed within striking distance until the Regents closed the gap with a pair of free throws with just over two minutes to play.
A minute later, Carter drilled a go-ahead 3-pointer off an assist by Baer. The Regents came right back and trimmed the lead to one with a layup by Micah Swanson.
On the next Eureka possession, Rockford's Charles Burnell came up with a huge steal, which led to a go-ahead bucket by Vincent Eugene with 13 seconds remaining. Then, Sola Mateo Fernandez made it back-to-back swipes, and scored to put the home team up three with 2.5 seconds left.
With 2.5 seconds left on the clock, Gonzalez heaved the ball down court to Ellison, who got a 3-pointer off in time, but it didn't go.
Kevin Diemer tallied a game-high 24 points and had nine rebounds for the Regents. Eugene and Burnell had 16 and 15 points, respectively, while Micah Swanson pulled down a game-high 12 rebounds to go with nine points.
Eureka recorded 29 points off the bench, the second-most this season. In addition to Gonzalez reaching double figures, Blake Castonguay (Wateska, Ill./Watseka/Illinois College) and Zach Briggs (Decatur, Ill./Decatur MacArthur/Lincoln Land each had six points, David Hill (Elgin, Ill./St. Edwards Catholic/Elgin Community) had four points and Garrett Hooker had two. Hill gathered four rebounds in nine minutes. The Red Devils also hit a season-high nine 3-pointers.
Eureka (1-4) will next compete in the St. Francis Tournament next Saturday and Sunday.