Hannibal-LaGrange big second half too much for Eutectics

A tough regular season came to a conclusion on Saturday afternoon for the UHSP Eutectics as they dropped an 87-70 decision to Hannibal-LaGrange. The Trojans outscored the Eutectics by 16 in the second half to pull away and earn a sweep the in their American Midwest Conference season series.

The Eutectics got off to a good start hitting a pair of early threes from Dwight Newsome to take an 8-2 lead. The game went scoreless for nearly three full minutes after that, but a Malakai Munoz layup capped a 11-4 run by Hannibal-LaGrange and put them on top 13-12 with 12:24 left in the half. The game featured six lead changes over the ensuing 6:31 and the Trojans led 23-20 following a Davell Long three-pointer that broke a 20-20 tie. In a tight first-half, UHSP fell behind by six late but got a pair of triples from Jas Suvalija to cut the margin to one at the intermission, 32-31.

To open the second half, Suvalija hit another three followed by a layup as the Purple and Gold grabbed a 36-32 advantage. Moctar Keita extended the lead to six with a layup 3:27 into the half. A 6-0 hit by the Trojans got them back even at 40-40 and it was tied again later at 46-all after a layup from Kyan Arrandale with 12:51 remaining. But as the Eutectics have become accustomed to throughout this season, they have had to try and endure extended scoreless droughts in games. Hannibal-LaGrange exploded for a 10-0 surge over the next 2:34 that changed the complexion of the game. It was Munoz that capped that run with a three-pointer with 10:17 to go and the Eutectics were in a double-digit hole. Ahian Barnett ended that run with a triple to cut the deficit to seven and another 6-0 run by HLGU was halted by another Barnett three, but it was 62-52 with 6:44 left. The Trojans extended the lead to 16 after Chris Cross went back-to-back from perimeter in a :30 span. UHSP was twice able to cut the deficit to a dozen the rest of the way, but could never get it back to single digits as the Trojans downed the Eutectics for the 16^th time in the last 20 meetings.

Jas Suvalija led three Eutectics in double figures with 25 points off the bench, Ahian Barnett had 16 points and Dwight Newsome added 13. Moctar Keita and Kyan Arrandale paced UHSP with six rebounds each. Chris Cross was the top scorer for the Trojans with 21p and one of four to post double figures in scoring. Nick Gutierrez had 16, Malakai Munoz had 14 and Eddie Ambrose added 13.

This one strictly came down to shooting as UHSP took one more shot than HLGU, but the Trojans shot 54.0% to 39.1 for the Purple and Gold. The visitors held a 38-32 edge on the glass and neither team committed double digit turnovers (HLGU 8, UHSP 7). The game featured five ties and 11 lead changes.

The Eutectics (1-25, 0-14) will now play in the American Midwest Conference Tournament presented by Tandem HR. The Quarterfinals take place on Thursday as the higher seeds will all host. 8-UHSP will travel to Conway, AR to meet the tournament's overall #1 seed in Central Baptist. The Mustangs beats the Eutectics by 14 in St. Louis and by 15 in Arkansas. Elsewhere, 5-Williams Baptist visits 4-William Woods, 6-Hannibal-LaGrange takes on 3-Missouri Baptist and 2-Columbia hosts 7-Harris-Stowe. All games tip off at 7:00pm.