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For Immediate Releaseeureka, illinois
February 14, 2009
EC rallies from 15-Point deficit, moves to .500 for 1st time
Eureka College left the first meeting with Maryville University with a 77-72 loss and record of 2-9 overall and 0-3 in last place of the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The path back to .500 seemed to be a treacherous one, if one even existed at all. But the Red Devils wove their way through five SLIAC outposts, winning four times, then solved their home court woes at the same time.
Coincidently, after winning eight games in ten tries, it would be Maryville (12-10, 8-5 SLIAC) that came calling just when EC had its first chance to get back to .500 all season. It would be a different story this time. The Saints ran into a confident and determined Eureka (11-11, 9-5) squad that overcame a 15-point first half deficit for a 76-67 victory. The Red Devils won for the fifth consecutive time, moving into fourth place in the league standings in the process.
In the early going, however, Maryville appeared to be the team coming into play on a hot streak. The Saints raced out to a 10-2 lead and later put together an 11-2 flurry to increase their lead to 15 points at 33-18 with 6:39 left in the opening half. The Saints hit four of their first 10 three-point attempts as they enjoyed their largest lead of the day. Maryville connected on just two of their last 22 tried from behind the arc, which would prove seal the Saints' fate.
For a six minute span in the first half, it did not matter where on the court the Saints shot. They could not put anything in the basket against the Eureka defense. Eureka forced 11 straight missed field goal attempts during a 15-0 rally that tied the game at 33 in the final minute of the period.
Kameron Bell (Clinton, Ill./HS) got the rally ignited with a pair of driving layups. Three different Red Devils then stepped to the line to sink a pair of foul shots before Clint Rabbe (El Paso, Ill./HS) buried a long distance triple from the wing to tie the game for the first time with 43 seconds in the half. Maryville regained a two point edge on the ensuring possession, but Jordan Kindred (Chrisman, Ill./HS) was fouled with 15 seconds on the clock and hit two more freebies to set the halftime score at 35-35.
The Red Devils were fortunate to be tied at the intermission after being out-rebounded 28-15 in the first 20 minutes. They took advantage of their chances at the foul line, going a perfect 10-for-10 at the stripe. While Eureka evened its rebounding disadvantage after halftime, things tuned sour at the line to the tune of 33 percent (4-for-12). That did not prevent EC from picking up a critical victory, though.
Mark Darnall (Lake Mills, Wis./HS) gave Eureka its first lead of the day, draining a jumper in the first possession of the second half. Maryville quickly countered to take a three-point edge, but Bell evened things with a trey with 16:46 left. Just as in the first half, Bell's play sparked an EC rally, this time of the 11-0 variety. Michael Zasada (McHenry, Ill./HS) and Andy Leppard (Crescent City, Ill./Crescent-Iroquois) each tallied a three-pointer during the spurt. Leppard's trey with 14:19 remaining put Eureka in on top 50-42. The Red Devils lead never shrank under five points the rest of the day.
Brady Wildenradt (Delavan, Ill./HS) and Rabbe connected on a pair of three-pointers each to short-circuit any momentum the Saints were able to gain as the second half wore on. Wildenradt's trey with 11:06 left moved Eureka ahead 59-51. Rabbe's bomb with 7:57 to go increased the EC margin to 11. A Wildenradt triple with 3:55 left gave the Red Devils a 73-61 advantage. Despite spotty foul shooting, Eureka would enjoy a double digit lead until a trio of Maryville free throws with three seconds left trimmed the final margin to nine.
Zasada notched his eighth double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds. He also led the team with four assists and four blocked shots. Bell finished with 15 points and eight boards. He has now scored at least 10 points in 10 of his last 11 contests. Wildenradt and Rabbe each canned three treys to tally 11 and nine points respectively. In addition to Rabbe off the bench, Leppard's seven points and Alex Sides' (Eureka, Ill./HS) six helped Eureka to a 24-13 lead in bench production.
With Eureka and Maryville being ranked first and second respectively in the league in made three-pointers, it was not surprising that three-point shooting was such a large factor in the game. The Red Devils made 7-of-16 after halftime to wind up 39 percent (10-26) for the game. Maryville was just 19 percent (6-32) from three-point territory.
Jason Simmons had 12 points and 10 boards for Maryville. Eric Gruenewald led four Saints in double figures with 17 points. Maryville shot 34 percent, becoming the fourth consecutive Eureka opponent to shot less than 38 percent.
The Red Devils will step out of conference play for their next game, Thursday, February 19 at 8:00 pm at Lincoln Christian. The two sides have not played this season, but they split a pair of games last year, with the home team winning each time.
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For More Information Contact:
Bryan Moore
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