Lafayette survives Eureka for 74-65 conference victory

Surging to a double-digit first half lead, it looked like the night would be an easy one for the Lafayette basketball team. But visiting Suburban West rival Eureka threw a late scare into the Lancers in the game’s final moments.

Thanks to a big shooting night from senior guard Joel Pennington and clutch free-throws from Luke Kreinkamp, Nate Messer, and Evan Scales, Lafayette kept its Suburban West conference slate clean with a hard-fought 74-65 victory Friday on Jason Struble Night.

“Eureka’s a tough-nosed team, they always play well against us and they came out fighting and luckily we were able to end up on top,” Pennington said.

The teams traded baskets in the first quarter until a 5-0 run keyed by a Pennington 3-pointer gave Lafayette (16-7, 6-0 in the Suburban West) a 22-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Lafayette continued to score from the perimeter with Pennington hittting shots and Kreinkamp scoring down low as the Lancers rolled to a 42-31 halftime edge. Pennington had a huge night from the floor with 25 points, nine of them coming from behind the three-point line.

“We shot the ball pretty well and we have a lot of confidence in our guards and our backcourt and Luke Kreinkamp gave us yeoman’s work inside as well,” Lafayette coach Scott Allen said.”If your’e gonna be undersized, you gotta get out in the passing lanes and get some steals and tonight we were able to do that.”

A Scales layup and drive for two by Pennington extended the Lancers lead to 53-38 with just over three minutes left in the third quarter but Eureka (9-13, 3-3 in conference) would live up to its nickname with a furious late run.

Down nine points with 2:39 to go, a Tyler Jordan layup Jack Abeln knocked down a free-throw and then after a missed Pennington free-throw Max Wegener answred at the other end with a bucket and then another Lafayette turnover led to a five-foot runner by Abeln cutting the lead to just 65-61 with 1:15 left.

Eureka got no closer in the final minute though as Nate Messer, Scales, and Kreinkamp each hit a pair of free-throws to deny the Wildcats a chance at the upset.

“I thought that is probably about as close as we have been to what were hoping to get to by the end of the season, but sometimes you get beat,” Eureka coach Craig Kennedy said. “I thought Lafayette played great, they shot it great, executed their stuff and it was just a great game.”

Nate Messer and Scales also reached double figures for the Lancers with 16 and 12 points.

Three players ended the night in double figures for Eureka as Abeln and Jordan scored 12 points each and Wegener finished with 11 points.

Lafayette was just glad to get through another tough conference test on the plus side of the scoreboard.

“”They (Eureka) play so hard and they made a bunch of shots tonight and so did we but we knew it was gonna come down to whomever’s gonna make a little run there in the fourth and we were fortunate to kind of extend a little bit.”