Red Devils Hold on to Beat Dominican

EUREKA, Ill. – The Eureka men's basketball team held off a late comeback effort by Dominican to secure an 83-79 victory at home on Saturday afternoon.

The Stars jumped out to an early 10-9 lead over the Red Devils after nearly five minutes of play. However, that would be the last time Eureka trailed in the game. Amariyae Wilson (Terre Haute, Ind./Terre Haute South) hit a three-pointer to give the Red Devils a 12-10 lead, and they would hold that advantage for the final 34 minutes. Wilson's basket sparked an 11-0 scoring run by Eureka, which extended their lead to 20-10. Dominican stayed within striking distance for the remainder of the first half, but Eureka held on to an eight-point lead at halftime.

In the second half, Dominican cut Eureka's lead to just three points with over 17 minutes remaining. The Red Devils responded, pushing their lead back to nine points thanks to back-to-back field goals by Emaryon Byrd (Peoria, Ill./Manual). After a steal and a layup by Raymond Bandzoumouna Jr. (Lisle, Ill./Lisle), Eureka's lead grew to 12 points, their largest of the night, with just over nine minutes left to play.

Dominican refused to go away, trimming the Eureka lead to just two points with under five minutes remaining. Peewee Brown (Peoria, Ill./Manual) came up big down the stretch, scoring back-to-back layups to give the Red Devils a seven-point lead with 1:39 left. With just 33 seconds remaining, Bandzoumouna hit free throws to extend the Eureka lead to nine points, but Dominican kept fighting back. With four seconds left, Dominican launched a desperation three-pointer that banked in, and a foul was called on the shot. The Stars converted the four-point play, cutting the Red Devils' lead to just two points.

In the final seconds, Dominican intentionally fouled Byrd, needing at least one miss. But Byrd calmly sank both free throws, sealing an 83-79 win for Eureka.

GAME NOTES

• Emaryon Byrd led all scorers with a season-high 24 points and added 10 rebounds, marking his second double-double of the season.
• Amariyae Wilson shattered his previous season-high with 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
• Jacob Gonzalez (Los Angeles, Calif./Chatsworth Charter) set a new season-high with 12 points off the bench for the Red Devils.

UP NEXT

The Red Devils (1-3) will travel to Blackburn (0-4) for their first SLIAC matchup of the season on Tuesday, Nov. 26 at 7:30 p.m.