Red Devils Hold Off Rockford, 78-73
EUREKA – The Eureka men's basketball team seized a 78-73 victory over Rockford to get back in the winning column at Christine Bonati Bollwinkle Arena and Convocation Center on Tuesday.
The win was the Red Devils' second of the year and No. 200 for Coach Chip Wilde in his 17 years coaching 'neath the elms. He became only the second coach in program history to reach the milestone, following the legendary Coach Dave Darnall.
The Red Devils shot a season-best 46.7 percent from the field, made 16 of 20 free throws and, crucially, got enough stops down the stretch to seal it.
Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual/Lincoln) dropped a game-high and a season-high 27 points on 10-of-16 shooting from the field, 3-of-4 shooting from distance and 4-of-5 shooting from the free-throw line. In addition to knocking down a slew of big jumpers and coming up with some tough finishes in the lane through contact, the junior guard swiped a game-high four steals, gathered five boards and had a pair of assists.
Senior big man Cody Baer (Peoria, Ill./Dunlap/Southwestern Illinois), meanwhile, recorded his third double-double of the season, putting up 20 points and pulling down 15 boards. He shot 8-of-11 from the field and made all four of his opportunities at the line.
The other starters, Noah Persich (Peoria, Ill./Metamora/Parkland), Ben Carter (Morton, Ill./Morton) and Jalen Johnson (Rock Falls, Ill./Rock Falls/Sauk Valley), added nine, eight and seven points, respectively.
Eureka successfully held off the Regents after enduring eights ties and 10 lead changes. Most of them occurred in the second half.
Once the Red Devils settled into the game, they jumped out to an 8-2 lead after a 3-pointer by Johnson off an assist by Persich less than four minutes in.
A little over a minute later, a dunk by Baer gave Eureka a nine-point lead. The Regents made sure that was EC's largest advantage of the night. The visitors surged back with a 15-4 run to briefly take a 19-17 lead with 10:15 left in the half.
The Red Devils answered with a 9-0 run that included a layup by Brown, a 3-pointer by Sam DeJesus (Delavan, Ill./Delavan), a putback by Baer and a jumper by Brown.
Eureka held the lead for the rest of the half and went into the locker room up 34-29.
When play resumed, the Regents erased it with two quick buckets and a 3-pointer, forcing the Red Devils to have to wrestle the lead back. They did exactly that, with a triple by Brown making it 53-46 with 11:45 remaining.
When the Regents tied it again with a 3-pointer by Jaden Bell two minutes later, it was Brown who came back and provided the answer to regain the lead.
The game swung back and forth in the final 10 minutes. A three-point play by Rockford's Tyrese England gave the Regents a three-point advantage with less than four minutes to play.
A pair of free throws by Brown trimmed it to one, then a layup off a second-chance opportunity for Mateo Ferndandez Solari made it 71-68 with 2:28 remaining.
On the next possession, Carter delivered one of the biggest plays of the game, taking a hand-off from Brown, driving to the basket and slamming it home to make it a one-point play yet again.
After the Red Devils forced a turnover on the defensive end, Brown drilled the go-ahead 3 from the top of the arc to make it 73-71.
Rockford's Kevin Diemer drew a foul on the possession, but he missed the front end of the one-and-one, forcing the Regents to put EC at the line. Johnson and Persich each put away a pair and Johnson made 1 of 2 in the final minute to close it out.
With the win, Eureka improved to 2-1 on the season. The Red Devils will next face Eastern Illinois (2-4) in a road exhibition on Saturday at 2 p.m.
