LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dominique Ellis led four players in double-figure scoring to lead Spalding to an 87-75 win over Principia Thursday evening at Derek Smith Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles improved to 7-7 on the season and 5-3 in conference play, while Principia fell to 6-9 and 5-4 in SLIAC play.  

THE BASICS
THE SCORE: Spalding 87 – Principia 75
LOCATION: Derek Smith Gymnasium, Louisville, Ky.   
RECORD: Spalding 7-7 (5-3 SLIAC), Principia 6-9 (5-4 SLIAC)

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Golden Eagles raced out to an early 5-0 lead behind a Robert Bendingfield jumper and Ellis three-pointer. Principia responded with a 16-4 spurt capped off by a Jeff Ross dunk to put the Panthers ahead, 16-9 with 13:57 to play in the half. A Keith Wallace layup followed by a Rylan Rowe three-pointer fueled a quick 5-0 SU run cutting the deficit to two points, and from there the game was on. Over the final 9:25 of the half, the Eagles and Panthers exchanged the lead six times. A Brennan Paulson three-pointer looked to give Principia a one-point lead heading into halftime following an Ellis three-pointer on what seemed to be Spalding's last possession of the half. However, Robert Bendingfield swiped the ball from Prin's Parker Davidson with 17 seconds on the clock and floated in a layup at the horn sending SU to the locker room leading 43-42 at halftime. Spalding and Prin exchanged the lead twice over the first four minutes of the second half playing to a 50-50 tie with 16 minutes to go. A pair of Cornelius Watts free throws jump started a 14-4 Spalding run capped off by a Williams three-pointer to put SU ahead 64-54 with 12:47 remaining. The Panthers fought back cutting, the Golden Eagle lead to four on a pair of TreVaughn Goodman free throws, but SU answered with a 6-0 burst finished off by a steal and one-handed dunk by freshman big man Brendan Holt to push the margin back to 10 points with 6:53 to go. Spalding would go on to stretch their lead to a game-high 14 points with 22 seconds and went on to win, 87-75.


• Ellis led SU with a team-high 24 points going 8-of-13 from the floor. Brandon Williams tallied his second straight double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Rylan Rowe scored 14 points off the bench on an efficient 4-of-7 performance from the field. Freshman point guard Robert Bendingfield had his best all-around performance of the season recording 12 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals.


• The Golden Eagles had their best shooting game of the season hitting at a 54.7% clip overall and 58.8% mark from beyond the arc.

FOR THE FOES

• Micah Paulson led the Panthers with a game-high 28 points, while Trevaughn Goodman scored 16 points and Parker Davidson added 14 points.

UP NEXT

• Up next, the Golden Eagles are back at home Saturday, January 20 facing off against Fontbonne University. Tipoff is 3:00 pm EST at Derek Smith Gymnasium.