GREENVILLE, IL – The Principia men's basketball team may have suffered a blowout 33-point loss at Greenville University on Tuesday, but one member of the team had a historic night to remember.
Junior forward
Eaton Smith, who goes by "Simba", went a perfect 18-18 from the field to tie the NCAA Division III record for most makes in a game without a miss. He joins three other players who went 18-18 in a game in DIII history. Smith was soaring all night as nine of his FGs were slam dunks, and he finished with a career-high of 39 points.
The Greenville men's unorthodox, fast-paced playing style has allowed for some huge stat lines for Principia players in their recent matchups. Last season,
Jaquan Adams had a 49-point triple double against GU, and Nathan Brantingham also scored 49 points against them in 2022.
While the game itself started off promising for Principia as they held a 31-30 lead midway through the first half, the rest of the game did not go their way. Over the ensuing five minutes, Greenville went on a 26-4 run and never looked back. Though Principia fought back early in the second half to cut the lead to eight, Greenville would continue to build their advantage for the remainder of the half – leading by as much as 39 points late in the game – and ultimately winning by a final score of 150-117.
Unfortunately for Principia, Smith's record-setting performance wasn't the only history made on the night as 150 points is the most the men's basketball program has ever given up in one game.
Aside from Smith's career game, three other Panthers finished with season-high scoring nights:
Nolan Simon with 29 points,
Bobby Alford III with 21 points, and
Demetrius Torrence with 15 points. Alford added 13 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.
After three consecutive road games, the team returns home for another tough test against Webster University on Saturday at 3:00 pm.
