ELSAH, IL – The Principia men's basketball team hosted the Eureka College Red Devils on Tuesday evening. The Panthers came in looking for a repeat of last season when the Principia men got their first SLIAC win against Eureka. After an 0-6 start to conference play, the Panthers ended their winless drought with a convincing 73-55 victory.
Seven minutes into the contest, the score sat tied 8-8, but Principia would outscore the Red Devils 20-12 to close the first half with the lead. Eureka came out strong to start the second half, and just four minutes in they had retaken the lead at 35-34. With 13 minutes remaining, Eureka was up 41-37 and things were trending in the wrong direction for the Panthers. However, a jumper by
Mikhali Roberts followed by a three by
Caden Smith gave the lead back to Principia. With the Panthers up by two with seven minutes left, Principia locked in on both ends of the floor to go on a game-clinching 20-0 run and secure the big W.
Junior guard
Nolan Simon, the conference's leading scorer, had another huge game as he finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals for his second double-double of the season. Fellow junior
Mikhali Roberts finished one point away from a double-double of his own with 9 points and 10 boards. Freshman
Xavier McDowell had the best game of his young college career with 15 points on 5 big three-pointers.
Due to the incoming winter weather this weekend, Principia's home game on Saturday vs Spalding has been moved up to Friday at 7:30 PM.
