Big UHSP Second-Half Not Enough to Catch Mustangs

CONWAY, AR - In the first game of their Arkansas road trip on Thursday night, the Eutectic men's basketball team took on the Central Baptist College Mustangs (22-4, 12-0 AMC) for the second matchup of an American Midwest Conference (AMC) home-and-home series. Despite a second-half charge, where UHSP outscored the Mustangs 50-38, the Eutectics fell to the Conference leaders 96-81.

Landon Engelage kicked off the game scoring three points from the perimeter off an assist from Dwight Newsome. Layups followed from Engelage, Moctar Keita, and Ahian Barnett to put the Euts up 9-5, but the Mustangs caught up at 9-9 with a Tonje Durham layup at 15:39. A layup from Newsome and a triple from Barnett regained the lead for the Eutectics at 14-12, but CBC followed up with a 10-0 scoring run in just over a minute to takeover the lead for good. With 10 minutes to go in the half, the Mustangs led 31-21, and extended that lead to 58-31 by halftime.

A layup from CBC's Christian White gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 65-34 just two minutes into the second half. The Eutectics were able to narrow the deficit in the next five minutes to less than 20 points (67-49), led by a strong offensive performance by Barnett. The Purple and Gold continued their efforts to catch the Mustangs as the period continued, gaining ground in the final minutes off buckets from Newsome and a triple from Kyan Arrandale to make it 91-78 with 1:37 left. A three from RJ Steckler brought the Euts within 10 (91-81) at 1:10, but CBC would not allow the visitors any closer, posting a 96-81 victory – their 13^th win in a row – to secure a first-place finish in the AMC regular season.

As the Mustangs focused their offensive strategy from the perimeter, the Eutectics bested the Mustangs in field goal percentage, 50% to 41%. But, the home team took 14 more shots from the floor and sunk 14 of 42 threes, outrebounding the Eutectics 48-35 and earning 25 points from 19 UHSP turnovers.

Barnett led the Eutectics with 20 points, going 7-11 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, and 3-3 from the line. Steckler and Sean Paradise Jr. picked up 16 and 14 points off the bench, respectively. Newsome finished with 10 points, while Engelage had seven, Keita posted six, Arrandale collected five, and Brady Bowers recorded one. Paradise Jr. led the team with seven rebounds, Engelage dished off four assists, and Steckler was credited with two blocks.

Tonje Durham led the Mustangs with 24 points. CBS's Tomas Myska recorded a double double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Eutectics, now 1-23 overall and 0-12 in the AMC, will remain in Arkansas for their next AMC matchup against Williams Baptist University (12-10, 4-7 AMC), on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 3 p.m.