Box Score The Spalding University men's basketball team lost at MacMurray College, 56-54 Monday night. The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 16-7 overall and 14-2 in SLIAC competition. SU is currently tied for first place in the SLIAC standings with the MacMurray.
Three players scored in double figures for the Golden Eagles.
Brandon Gabriel led the way with 13 points, while
Brandon Goeing scored 11 points and
Thomas Blakemore added 10 points.
Brady Slagle was the only Highlander to post double-digit scoring. Slagle scored 15 points while shooting 5-of-8 from the floor and grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
The Golden Eagles got out to a fast start taking a 7-2 lead on a
Terez Smith jump shot three and a half minutes into the game. A Slagle jumper at the 16:39 mark started a 17-4 run giving the Highlanders a 19-11 lead, but SU outscored Mac 11-2 to close the half to give Spalding 22-21 halftime lead.
Spalding and Mac both came out firing in the second half, exchanging the lead six times in the first four minutes. Over the next seven minutes the Golden Eagles slowly built seven point lead, their largest of the game, when Gabriel connected on a three-pointer giving SU 45-38 lead with 8:43 to play.
MacMurray responded to SU's run by scoring eleven straight points to take a 50-45 on a Paul Crowder three-point shot with 5:50 remaining in the game. The Golden Eagles battled back, cutting Mac's lead to one point when
Domonique Sangester knocked down a three-pointer with three seconds left. Mac's Dylan Burton went 1-of-2 at the line, but Sangester's heave at the buzzer was off the mark as the Golden Eagles fell 56-54.
The Golden Eagles and Highlanders were very evenly matched statistically. The teams were separated by .5 percent shooting, SU shot 41.2 percent from the field, while Mac went 20-of-48 finishing 41.7 percent from the floor. Both teams were almost identical on the boards. SU collected 26 rebounds for the game, while Mac Murray finished with 27. The main stat disparity was at the free throw line. The Golden Eagles shot a solid 7-of-10 (70%) for the game, but MacMurray almost doubled SU in attempts going 13-of-19 (68.8%) for the game.
The Golden Eagles will be back in action Thursday, February 20 at Greenville College in Greenville, Ill., tipoff is 9:00 p.m., EST.
