Eureka Grinds By Monmouth in Nail-Biter, 78-77
EUREKA – The Eureka men's basketball team edged Monmouth 78-77 in a nail-biter at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center on Monday.
The Red Devils got back in the winning column in dramatic fashion, snapping a seven-game losing streak and avenging a season-opening loss against the Fighting Scots in November.
"We were just all sticking together as a unit," said senior Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic). "It was great for us to come through and finally win a close one."
The Red Devils had a decided advantage in the first half, leading by as many as 17, but Monmouth came out strong in the second half and turned the rest of the game into a slugfest.
Less than six minutes into the second half, the Fighting Scots had erased Eureka's 12-point halftime lead and taken control.
With 5 1/2 minutes play, the Red Devils found themselves trailing by 10.
The home team scrapped its way back into the game by being aggressive and finding ways to get to the free-throw line.
A pair of free throws by senior Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) following a Monmouth technical started the run. Then, Ellison got fouled on a 3-pointer and put away all three foul shots to make it a five-point lead.
On Eureka's next possession, Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual/Lincoln) attacked the basket, finished the drive, drew a foul and made a free throw to trim the lead to two with less than four minutes to play.
A few plays later, Ellison got fouled on a trey again, and put them all away for a second-time. This made it a one-point game.
The Red Devils would tie it and briefly go-ahead with a pair of free throws by Garrett Hooker (Bloomington, Ill./Bloomington/Lincoln) with 2 1/2 minutes to play.
A free throw and layup on back-to-back plays for Monmouth, however, made it 73-70 and prompted an EC timeout. Coming out of the timeout, Eureka's Noah Perisch (Peoria, Ill./Metamora/Parkland) delivered a big jumper to make it a one-point lead again.
Eureka finally went ahead with a pair of free throws by Brown with 37 seconds remaining.
On the next play, Ellison picked the pocket of Monmouth's Kyle Taylor on his way up the court and finished the fast-break layup on the other end to give Eureka a three-point cushion.
"I was baiting him the whole game," Ellison said. "He was dribbling out to the side the whole game, and I knew, at one point, I would have an opportunity to steal it, and I just went for it and got it."
That didn't put it away quite yet, though. Monmouth called timeout and had a chance to respond, but a mental mistake on the inbound resulted in the Fighting Scots being forced to send Eureka back to the line.
Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) proceeded to make 1 of 2 twice in the last 21 seconds to make it 78-74 with six seconds left. Taylor got a 3 to go at the last second, but the Fighting Scots fell one-point short.
Baer finished with an impressive double-double of 16 points and 18 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from the floor on the night despite dealing with foul trouble for much of the second half.
Ellison recorded 15 points, seven rebounds, five assists and one huge steal despite an off shooting night (3-12 FGs).
Persich added 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, including a pair of 3s in the first half. Dorethy notched 10 points and six rebounds
Brown, a spring semester transfer, tallied nine points, three rebounds and two steals in his official Red Devil debut. Ben Carter (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Charlie McKinty contributed six and four points, respectively.
Forwards Andrew Gonzalez (Mundelein, Ill./Mundelein) and Hooker came off the bench and each had two points. Gonzalez added three rebounds, an assist and a steal, while Hooker had one rebound and stepped up and played big minutes while Baer was in foul trouble.
Zach Briggs (Decatur, Ill./Decatur MacArthur/Lincoln Land) delivered a big block late.
Metcalf led Monmouth with 18 points and nine rebounds. .Williams and Taylor each had 13 points, and Kendall Brasfield had 11.
Eureka shot 43.3 percent in the first half and dipped only slightly to 41.4 percent on the game. The Red Devils outrebounded Monmouth 45-37, distributed 13 assists to the Fighting Scots four and beat the visitors in the paint, 38-32.
Monday was Eureka's last game until Dec. 31, when the Red Devils (2-8) will face Division II Maryville (9-3) on the road.
St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season begins on Wednesday, Jan. 4 with Greenville (1-9) coming to town.
"I'm really confident going into non-conference play," Ellison said. "We had a super tough non-conference schedule, but that's only going to prepare us for late February and early March."