Men's Basketball Upset Hopes Dashed Late Against Eureka

Photo taken by softball head coach, Casey Cromwell

ST. LOUIS, Mo.— The Fontbonne University men's basketball team stepped up and played well against first place Eureka, but the Red Devils escaped with an 84-78 win.

The Griffins (3-13; 1-8 SLIAC), shot 38.0 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from downtown. Jared Woodcock had himself a night as he went 9-of-16 from the floor to finish with a season-high 22 points.

Kris McCann filled up the stat sheet with 21 points, six rebounds and seven assists, while off the bench, Maguire Scheer went 4-of-10 from downtown to conclude with a season-high 12 points.

Eureka (12-4; 7-2 SLIAC), got the win thanks in large part to the performance out of Shea Feehan. The junior guard went 13-of-19 from the field and 16-of-20 from the charity-stripe to finish with a game-high 44 points.

Dakota Bennington added 14 points and seven boards off the bench, while Hank Thomas knocked in 12 points. Overall, the Red Devils shot 48.2 percent from the floor and got to the free throw line 30 times, connecting on 25.

The Griffins opened up the first eight minutes of play with a 14-12 lead on Scheer's 3-pointer. At 9:30, the team led 22-17 on another Scheer 3-pointer. From there, the Griffins rattled off an 8-0 run in two minutes and 14 seconds to take a 30-19 advantage.

With 5:37 on the clock, the Griffins were well in control leading 38-23 on Thomas Ritter's 3-pointer. However, the Red Devils went on a 12-0 run, capped off by Feehan's four-point play to make it a 38-35 game with 3:07 to go.

Despite the Red Devils late push, Fontbonne was able to keep its marginal lead heading into the locker room, leading 45-43.

The Griffins shot 44.7 percent from the floor in the first half and sank eight 3-pointers. Woodcock led with his 14 points, while Scheer provided a huge spark off the bench, netting 12. On the other side of the court, Feehan was the story as he accounted for more than half of the Red Devils points (23).

The nail-biting contest continued in the second half with Feehan giving Eureka a 50-48 lead at 18:01. The two teams answered each other's buckets, but the Griffins got the advantage back on McCann's lay-up to make it 62-60 (11:40).

Fontbonne maintained its lead up until the 6:36 mark when Hank Thomas knocked in his jumper to put Eureka out in front at 69-68.

FBU stayed right with Eureka with the clock continuing to tick away as McCann tied the game up once more at 76-76 (3:39). Feehan sparked Eureka, however, scoring four of the next six points to give them an 82-76 advantage with just over 1:30 left in regulation.

The Griffins had a couple chances to cut into the lead, but Eureka fended off Fontbonne to go on for the six-point victory.

The team looks to bounce back on the road on Saturday against Spalding. Tip-off goes up at 2 p.m.

Fans make sure to stay updated on fontbonnegriffins.com throughout the year for full updates and recaps on the men's basketball team.