Eureka Downs Webster, Wins Third Straight, 75-67
ST. LOUIS, Mo. – The Eureka men's basketball team took it to Webster on the road and picked up its third straight victory on Wednesday, besting the Gorloks 75-67.
The Red Devils alternated between controlling and dominating the first 3/4 of the game, then Webster made a late push to make things interesting in the last 10 minutes.
The Gorloks successfully trimmed a 21-point lead to six, but the night ultimately belonged to the maroon and gold.
Eureka shot just under 50 percent from the field and made 15 of 19 from the free-throw line. The visitors distributed 14 assists and committed eight turnovers – a season-low during St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play.
On the defensive end, they held Webster to 36.7 percent shooting from the field and 17.6 percent from distance while racking up nine blocks – the most since the second game of the season against Aurora on Nov. 9.
Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual/Lincoln) finished with a team-high 20 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. He shot 7-for-14 from the field and made 6 of 8 foul shots.
Senior big man Logan Dorethy (Hamilton, Ill./West Hancock/Hannibal LaGrange) had one of his most impactful performances of conference play on both ends of the floor. He shot 8-for-13 from the field, making an array of jumpers, floaters and buckets around the rim en route to 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
Fellow big Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois) paired with him for another strong night in the post. The back-to-back SLIAC Player of the Week posted his 12th double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds, and tied his season high in blocks with four.
Austyn Ellison (Hudson, Ill./Bloomington Central Catholic) added 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting and distributed five assists, while Ben Carter (Morton, Ill./Morton) contributed seven points off the bench.
The win clinched a season split with the Gorloks, who previously nipped Eureka down the stretch and won 67-59 in January. It also helped the Red Devils gain sole possession of fourth place in the SLIAC standings.
On Saturday, Eureka (8-14, 6-5 SLIAC) will look to notch another season split against second-place Fontbonne (12-10, 8-3 SLIAC) inside Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center at 3 p.m. When the two teams met in St. Louis last month, Fontbonne held off Eureka, 79-69.