CARLINVILLE, IL – The Blackburn College Men's Basketball team opened St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 73-62 victory over Eureka College.
Sophomore Darius Duff led the Beavers with 16 points while senior Izayah Talmadge added 13 points, six rebounds and three steals. Senior Brody Barr chipped in with 12 points and sophomore Tyson Johnson aided the effort with 11 points and three steals.
Senior Zach Kelsey notched eight rebounds while sophomore Cameron Johnson posted a team-best five assists.
As a team, BC finished the game shooting a season-best 46% from the three point line, finishing 7-15 and were 27-54 from the field.
The team's bench made a very big difference in Saturday's game as Blackburn outscored the Red Devil bench 27-2.
The teams began the game trading baskets before the hosts managed to pull ahead 24-14 off a T. Johnson layup with just under nine minutes left. Eureka answered to pull within 28-22 but Talmadge and Barr both made layups to stop the Red Devil rally. However, the visitors responded and made the score 35-32 with 50 seconds to go in the first half. Talmadge ended the first frame with another layup and sent the game halftime with Blackburn leading 37-32.
Eureka managed to fight back and eventually tied the game 42-42 four minutes into the second half. Barr broke the tie with two free throws and a layup, then T. Johnson added a free throw of his own after a Red Devil free throw, and freshman Ayden Kanallakan answered a Eureka layup with his own layup to make the game 49-45 at the 12:31 mark.
After a Eureka timeout, the teams would trade baskets back and forth and at 8:21 saw a 58-54 score with Blackburn leading the way. Sophomore Cayden Paquette extended the Beavers lead with a jumper before Duff made a layup to force another Eureka timeout with five minutes left in the game.
T. Johnson added a free throw out of the timeout before another Duff layup to give Blackburn the 65-54 advantage with 4:01 on the clock. Eureka made a layup which Talmadge answered with a free throw before Blackburn called timeout with 3:33 to go and a 66-56 lead. The guests managed to score out of the timeout, but the eight point deficit was the closest they would get as Blackburn helped on, and Kelsey sealed the game with a dunk to give BC the 73-62 win in their SLIAC opener.
With the win, the Beavers improve to 2-4 overall, 1-0 in the SLIAC while Eureka falls to 2-4, 0-1 in league play. Blackburn returns to action Tuesday as they head to Spalding University for more SLIAC action.