Red Devils Drop Home Opener Against Monmouth
| Final | 1 | 2 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Monmouth (Ill.) (1-1,0-0 Midwest Conference) | 45 | 45 | 90 |
|
Eureka (1-1,0-0 SLIAC) | 28 | 44 | 72 |
EUREKA, Ill. – The Eureka men's basketball team fell 90-72 to Monmouth on Tuesday night in its home opener. The Red Devils led early but couldn't recover after a first half scoring drought allowed the Scots to pull away.
Eureka jumped out to an early 14-11 lead behind nine early points from Jaxson Provost (Kankakee, Ill./Bishop McNamara), who continued his hot start to the season after setting a career high in the opener against Dominican. After a 5-0 run by Monmouth, back-to-back baskets by Micah Bruer (Washington, Ill./Washington Community) and Provost gave Eureka an 18-16 edge, but Monmouth seized control with a 15-0 run and never trailed again.
The Scots (1-1) stretched their advantage to as much as 19 in the first half before taking a 45-28 halftime lead.
Eureka showed life in the second half when Bruer was fouled on a 3-pointer and converted a four-point play to cut the deficit to 61-47 with 13:52 left. Moments later, Nicholaus Harris-Huntley (Milwaukee, Wis./Marquette) sparked the crowd with back-to-back steals, the second leading to a Provost basket that trimmed the lead to 12 and forced a timeout by the Scots. However, Monmouth answered out of the timeout with a 7-0 run to regain control and held off the Red Devils the rest of the way to claim a 90-72 victory.
Provost led all scorers with 26 points on 11-for-20 shooting, while Bruer added 16 points, four assists, and three rebounds. Andrew Coker (Washington, Ill./Washington Community) chipped in 11 points and seven boards, and Jonah Lauff (Pana, Ill./Pana) and Jacob Gonzalez (Los Angeles, Calif./Chatsworth Charter) each scored five. Eureka shot 40 percent (27-for-67) from the floor and 28 percent (7-for-25) from deep, while Monmouth hit 31 of 77 shots and held a 59-31 edge on the glass.
UP NEXT
Eureka (1-1) heads to the Lopata Classic hosted by WashU, facing the No. 5 ranked Bears on Friday at 5 p.m. The Red Devils will then play either St. Thomas (Texas) or UW-Whitewater on Saturday in the championship or consolation game.
