For Immediate Release

north manchester, indiana

November 17, 2006

McComb, Red Devils miss opening win by a hair

Eureka junior Matt McComb (Fairview, Ill./Spoon River Valley) set a career high with 15 points and dished out seven assists, but Kyle Plumlee's 17 second half points propelled the Manchester College Spartans to a 62-55 win in the season opener for both squads. The Red Devils will battle Alma College in the consolation game of the Manchester Tip-off Tournament at 4:00 pm Saturday, November 18. Manchester will play UW-Eau Claire, who defeated Alma 69-61 in the first game on Friday, in the championship game at 6:00 pm.

Eureka overcame 14 first half turnovers to take a 28-23 lead into the locker rooms. EC held Manchester without a field goal for over eight minutes to begin the game. Eureka never trailed in the half, enjoying a lead as large as eight. The Red Devils finished the half on a 7-2 spurt over the final four minutes.

Eureka shot 47.6 percent (10-21) from the field in the first half, but slumped back to a 36.7 percent clip

(11-30) in the second half. Meanwhile, the Spartans made a killing at the foul line. Manchester connected on 20-of-24 (83.3 percent) charity tosses, including 17-18 in the second half.

Manchester's first lead came at the back end of a 10-2 run capped by a Plumlee trey with 13:40 remaining. The count was tied twice before the Spartans took the lead for good with under eight minutes to go. Manchester went on an 11-0 run to gain the widest margin of the game, 49-40 at the five minute mark. Randy Ledbetter (Washburn, Ill./Lowpoint-Washburn) and A.J. Richard (Gibson City, Ill./GCMS) both scored to bring EC within 53-50 with more than two minutes on the clock, but Manchester canned 9-of-10 from the line in the last two minutes to secure victory.

Senior Chris Tarpley (Pekin, Ill./HS) posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards. Richard battled foul trouble all game, scoring nine points in just 14 minutes. The Red Devils' play went against several trends from last season. EC gave up over 79 points per game last season, but held Manchester to 62 despite committing 21 turnovers. Manchester failed to score after all 14 of Eureka's turnovers in the first half and only had seven points off turnovers in the game. However, the Red Devils were just 3-for-12 behind the three-point arc. EC made at least four three-pointers in all but two contests last year.

Jeff Grabowski and David Allen each reached double figures for Manchester with 13 and 10 points respectively. Plumlee was 5-for-9 on three-point attempts in the game, including 4-for-5 in the second half. The rest of the Spartans were 1-for-12.

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For More Information Contact:

Brian Sullivan

Sports Information Director

Eureka College

300 E. College Avenue

Eureka, Illinois 61530

309-467-6456

bsullivan@eureka.edu