Griffins win three-point shooting battle over Eureka

St. Louis, Mo. - Fontbonne men's basketball made sure that the Eureka College Red Devils remained winless on the road with a 52.4%-34.6% three-point shooting average. With Ben Kissing take a night to rest, Kody Ettinger got the nod and his offensive rebounding mixed with Jared Greenlee's defensive rebounding kept the Griffins ahead.

After trailing to start the game, Fontbonne took a 7-4 lead and remained ahead for the rest of the first half. Leading 19-15, Fontbonne fans thought Ettinger was about to pull up for a three-pointer but the shooting guard jumped up and dished a pass to Greg Gentry in the corner. Gentry connected his first and only first-half trey to give the Griffins a seven-point lead. Another Fontbonne three-point conversion occurred before scoring was stalled 25-19 for a little over two minutes.

Three-point shooting enabled the Griffins to gain a 10-point advantage after Ettinger drained a trey with a defender in his face after receiving the the pass from Greenlee inside. Richard Dorhauer got off a last-second shot before the buzzer and drained his third three-pointer as Eureka was called for a foul, and contested by their coaching staff. Fontbonne shot 57.1% from long-range to lead 42-35 at halftime while Eureka went 3-of-10 from beyond the arc. Greenlee led Fontbonne with six rebounds at the half while Dorhauer totaled 11 points.

A tense second half ensued as Eureka scored six consecutive points to pull with one of the Griffins and eventually was able to tie the game 46-46 as well as 48-48. Five points for Fontbonne gave them a little breathing room (53-48), but Eureka didn't falter. As the Griffins began to look inside, the Red Devils continued to fire off shots from the outside and at one point, scored a trey on each of their three possessions in a row. Teams and fans were getting emotional with charges being called on the court for both teams.

Again Eureka pulled with one (65-64) with eight minutes to go but Fontbonne scored four points in a row for some space before Ettinger was called on a charge. Dorhauer connected from behind the arc with 3:32 remaining to give Fontbonne a six-point lead but again Eureka attacked again with four of their own. Trailing 83-78, Shea Feehan's three-point attempt to bring Eureka within two points rimmed out, forcing the team to foul while Fontbonne held on for the win despite only making four of 10 attempts.

Dorhauer rallied for 22 points on the night including five treys on eight attempts. Ettinger and Greenlee each secured double-doubles. Ettinger recorded 17 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists while Greenlee's 12 rebounds, 10 points and 4 assists aided in the win. Greenlee tallied eight defensive rebounds while Ettinger totaled six offensive rebounds. Also recording double-digits was Greg Gentry with 11 points and four assists. Gentry went 2-of-2 in three-point shooting and 4-of-6 overall.

For Eureka, Parker Gibson earned 20 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Red Devils while Sam Feehan tallied 19 points.

Fontbonne is set to host Principia College on Saturday at 2 p.m.