Second Half Shooting Woes Lead To Griffins Loss Against Eureka

EUREKA, Ill.—The Fontbonne University men's basketball team headed into the locker room with a one-point halftime lead, however, the Eureka Red Devils outscored the Griffins 54-38 in the second to go on for the 98-83 win.

Final: Eureka 98, Fontbonne 83

Location: Eureka, Ill.

Records: Eureka (14-8; 9-6 SLIAC), Fontbonne (11-11; 9-6 SLIAC)

How It Happened

In the first half, consecutive buckets from both Jared Woodcock and Jalen Wadlington gave the Griffins a 19-11 lead with 11:51 remaining. The Griffins continued to hold its marginal lead up until the 5:45 mark when Dakota Bennington made his layup to give the Red Devils a 28-27 advantage.

The Red Devils expanded its lead out to 36-27 in less than a minute, however, trailing 42-33 at 2:51, the Griffins responded on a 13-0 run as Elijah Rice's free throws gave them the 45-42 lead. Eureka added a couple of late free throws but the Griffins still were on top by one.

Fontbonne shot 43.2 percent from the floor in the first and connected on 10-of-11 from the free throw line. Rice led with 15 points with seven of which coming during the 13-0 run in the final minutes. Eureka shot 41.0 percent from the field and were paced by Dakota Bennington's 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting.

In the second half, after Jones capped off his 3-point play with 15:58 remaining it was all square, 50-50. Over the next five minutes and 41 seconds, though the Red Devils went on a 20-7 run to lead 70-57.

Despite the Griffins efforts, the Red Devils offense proved to be too much shooting 54.8 percent in the half to go on for the 15-point win. Fontbonne shot just 31.4 percent from the floor but continued to make it count from the line going 15-of-17 (88.2 percent).

Inside The Numbers

• Fontbonne ended the night shooting 37.5 percent from the field.
• The team set new season-highs in free throws made (25) and free throw percentage (89.3).
• Eureka shot 47.1 percent and outrebounded the Griffins, 46-40.

Fontbonne Leaders

• Noah Coddington and Elijah Rice tied with 17 points each.
• Anthony Jones added 13 points.
• Caden Clark went 6-of-6 from the line to finish with 10 points.

Eureka Leaders

• Dakota Bennington was the story for Eureka finishing with a game-high 33 points on 11-of-19 shooting.
• Ian Milsteadt saw all of his 15 points come in the second half.
• Jordan Dehm contributed 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting.

Up Next

The team returns to action at home on Saturday when they'll take on Westminster. Tip-off at 3 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.

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