Eutectics season comes to an end with AMC Tournament first-round loss
CONWAY, AR – The UHSP Eutectics came into the Quarterfinals of the 2024 American Midwest Conference Tournament Presented by Tandem HR looking to shock the bracket and make it a short run for the #1 seed Central Baptist. The Mustangs owned a 14 and 15 point win over the Eutectics in the regular season and UHSP was hoping to give the tournament's top team another challenging game. Central Baptist used a mid-first half 21-4 run to put the visitors in a huge hole that they were not able to dig out of in a 112-66 win.
Central Baptist scored the game's first eight point until Moctar Keita got UHSP on the board with a jumper 2:49 into the game. After falling behind by a dozen the Eutectics settled in and had the deficit at eight at 20-12 after a pair of Jas Suvalija free throws. That is when the Mustangs went on a lengthy run holding the Eutectics to a pair of free throws and a field goal over the next 6:51 and led 41-16 after a Wade Williams three-pointer. Williams led four Mustangs in double figures scoring 22 points in the contest on 8-of-10 shooting including connecting on all five of his three-point tries. Landon Engelage and Keita hit consecutive layups for UHSP, but the Eutectics never got the deficit under 20 the remainder of the game. Another Williams triple capped the half with CBC leading 51-26.
Early in the second half, Jonas Carlisle knocked down a couple of foul shots to extend the Mustang lead to 30 at 56-26. Engelage made a three-point play with a layup and a free throw with 14:54 left to make it 66-36. Central Baptist embarked on another lengthy run outscoring the Purple and Gold 16-2 to continue to pull away en route to the lopsided win.
Ahian Barnett led USHP with 20 points, Moctar Keita added 14 point and Landon Engelage had 12 point and six boards. Hykeem Hancock scored 15 points and hauled down 11 rebounds for CBC in the win while Tomas Mikyska scored 14 points and Deshawn Corprew added 11. Central Baptist was efficient from the floor going 45-of-83 (54.2) while the Eutectics were 24-of-67 (35.8%). CBC unloaded a small arsenal from distance going 18-of-45 from the three-point line (40.0%). UHSP missed all seven of their three-point attempts in the first half and finished 4-for-25 (16.0%) for the game. CBC won the battle of the boards 50-35 and created 13 UHSP turnovers while committing just six of their own.
The Mustangs (23-6) advance to the Semifinals of the AMC Tournament Presented by Tandem HR and will play host to the 4-William Woods Owls on Saturday at 3:00p. The Eutectics wrap up the 2023-24 season at 1-26 and winless in their 16 AMC games.