Box Score Elsah, Ill. - On Tuesday night, the Principia College Panthers defeated the Millikin University Big Blue by the score of 83 to 74. It was a hard fought game and was not decided until the final minute of play when Principia hit a late 3 to go up by five points and then held on from the line as the Big Blue were forced to foul.
Millikin started the game by dominating the boards and methodically built a double-digit lead. Principia was able to trim the lead to 7 by half time and went into the locker room with the momentum. In the second half Principia went to a match-up zone that forced Millikin to shoot from out or try to go inside against Principia's 6'8"
Justin Ball. Neither seemed to work consistently and Principia finally took the lead with 4 and a half minutes left on the clock. Principia's
Sean Neel and
Kenny Sydness were able to break through the tough overplay defense for several backdoor layups and many fouls. Principia eventually shot 22 for 35 from the free throw line.
Damon Wilgus was Principia's outside threat, shooting 5-8 from beyond the arc. Although Millikin had a substantial rebounding lead at half time Principia was able to close to within 3, 37 to 40 by the end of the game. Principia was led by
Damon Wilgus' 25 points.
Kenny Sydness had 20 points and four very important steals while
Justin Ball had 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Panthers. Millikin was led by Jacob Kueker with 18 points and followed closely by Jaylon Owens with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Principia will next host Spalding University from Louisville, Ky. on Thursday night. Tipoff will be at 8:00 PM following the 6:00 PM women's game also against Spalding.
