EUREKA, Ill. - The Spalding men's basketball team once again fell Wednesday night to Eureka College, 83-72. The loss drops Spalding to 7-11 overall and 5-6 in SLIAC play. Eureka improved 8-10 overall and 6-5 to in conference play.

Guard James Turner led the Golden Eagles with 19 points; following Turner was guards Rylan Rowe and Brandon Goeing who added 12 points each. Nick Trisko would total a game-high 10 rebounds to go along with his four points.

Terez Smith would kick off the first half with a jump shot after being assisted by Trisko. From there, Eureka kept the ball to themselves going on a 12-0 burst for the first five minutes of the game. James Turner would bring it back for the Eagles converting a lay-up scoring two of his 13 first half points. Turner's success wasn't enough to push Spalding forward as Eureka pulled ahead at 10:27, 23-10. Dominique Ellis would work hard to close the gap as he hit a jumper of his own. The shooting streak for Eureka would end at 1:32 while Rylan Rowe drove for a lay-up seconds later. Rowe would knockdown a jumper off a Turner assists to close the half, and the two teams went into the locker room with Eureka in the lead by 10 points, 42-32.

The Golden Eagles would heat up to start the second half, outscoring the Red Devils 17-10 to cut the margin to three. Trisko and Goeing jumpstarted the spurt making layups on back-to-back possessions to get the margin to single digits. Eureka's Parker Gibson threw down a dunk, but the Eagles kept fighting, and Rowe answered with a three-pointer on SU's next possession. The Golden Eagles continued to close the gap, eventually cutting the Red Devil lead to three points following an and-one conversion by Victor Cosby to make the score 52-29 with 15:16 to play. The game remained close of the next 10 minutes as Spalding kept the margin to single-digits, but a pair of Sam Feehan three-pointers push the Red Devil lead to nine points with 4:32 to go, and the Golden Eagles couldn't complete the comeback falling, 83-72.

The Golden Eagles will return home for a Saturday 3:00 p.m. EST tipoff versus Fontbonne at Derek Smith Gymnasium.