For Immediate Release

eureka, illinois

January 10, 2009

Red Devils shoot down panthers 85-66 with 14 bombs

Boxscore

The Eureka College Red Devils came into Saturday's home SLIAC matchup leading the conference in made three-point field goals and the Principia College Panthers seemed determined to beat the Red Devils at their own game. Bad idea.

Eureka (4-9, 2-3 SLIAC) canned 14-of-27 three-point tries, compared to 12-of-28 for Principia (1-9, 0-4 SLIAC), while Kameron Bell (Clinton, Ill./HS) and Michael Zasada (McHenry, Ill./HS) carved up the Panthers' interior defense in an 85-66 EC triumph. In the process, the Red Devils recorded back-to-back victories for the first time since February 6, 2008 and jumped back into the thick of the SLIAC race.

For a while, the jump shooting exploits of the Panthers frustrated Eureka to the point that the partisan crowd was growing restless, fearing a potential upset. But is was Bell that stole the early headlines with an extremely hot start to the contest. The junior transfer totaled 12 points and six rebounds in the opening 7:20 of the game as Eureka sprinted out to an 18-8 lead.

Andy Leppard (Crescent City, Ill./Crescent-Iroquois) then converted a lob pass from Jordan Kindred (Chrisman, Ill./HS) into two points to increase the lead to 12. Principia came back with an 11-3 rally to get within 25-21 before Eureka would extend the lead to 43-30 at halftime.

Despite facing their largest deficit of the day thus far, the Panthers were unfazed to begin the second half as they hit Eureka with a 12-1 run to close to within 44-42. Principia connected on two treys during the comeback en route to a 53 percent conversion rate (8-for-15) from behind the arc in the second half.

The Red Devils, however, were not to be outdone on this day. They made 64 percent (7-for-11) of their three-point attempts after halftime to keep the Panthers at bay. After seeing a 13-point cushion shrink to two, Eureka put together a 15-5 spurt to regain a double figure lead at 59-47 following a Zasada triple with 11:53 to play.

Principia would soon sink three-pointers on three consecutive possessions to creep back to within 62-56, but the Panthers finally cooled off from there. Eureka recorded the next 12 points to run out to a commanding 74-56 advantage, essentially icing the game with five minutes remaining. It was a welcome relief for Red Devil fans, who had not seen their team win a game by double figures this season.

Staying on the double digit theme, four Red Devils scored at least 13 points: Bell with 18, Zasada with 17, Mark Darnall (Lake Mills, Wis./HS) with 15 and Brady Wildenradt (Delavan, Ill./HS) with 13. Bell added a career-high 12 boards for his second consecutive double-double. Kindred led EC with five assists. In all, 11 different Red Devils scored and contributed to the team's 53 percent shooting (32-for-61).

Todd Zimmerman led all players with 20 points. He chipped in seven rebounds and five assists. Sam Douglas had 16.

The Red Devils have a week off before commencing a stretch of four out of five SLIAC games on the road when they travel to Webster University in St. Louis for a 5:00 pm tip-off on Saturday, January 17. Webster put up a perfect 16-0 record in league play last year, but is off to a 2-2 start this season.

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For More Information Contact:

Bryan Moore
Sports Information Director
Eureka College
300 E. College Avenue
Eureka, Illinois 61530
309-467-6456
bmoore@eureka.edu