First-half drought digs too large a hole against Eagles

ST. LOUIS, MO – Brionne Williams turned the UHSP Gymnasium into his own personal playground as he scored 34 points leading Avila to an 82-72 win over the Eutectics. The Avila Eagles extended their winning streak to five while sending the Eutectics to their third straight loss. Aliva used a 21-0 run in the first half to take command of the game and never trailed after that. The matchup was just the second between the two clubs since 1999, with the Eagles also taking the previous meeting four years ago.

Joe Kearney scored five quick for the Eagles to get things rolling and with a Williams jumper thrown in, Avila scored seven of the game's first ten points. But the home club responded with a three from Jas Suvalija and an Ahian Barnett layup to take an 8-7 lead. With 10:23 left in the half, Bryant Odunayo nailed a three and the Eutectics went up 15-13, but that is when things shifted dramatically. UHSP went ice-cold from the field and were blanked for over nine and a half minutes. Avila was more aggressive getting to loose balls, fighting for rebounds and out-muscled the Eutectics as they scored 21 straight points to lead 34-15. It was a struggling first half from the field for the Purple and Gold, but Yigit Ekinci and Barnett each nailed triples just before the half as the visitors led 42-25 at the break. The Eagles had just two turnovers in the first half and shot 53.1% to UHSP's 35.7%. Ahian Barnett finished the first half with a dozen points and went 5-for-7 from the floor while the rest of the Eutectics went 5-of-21.

The second half was the Eutectics playing a desperate game of catch-up. They threatened a number of times to cut the deficit to single digits, but each time the Eagles would find a way to stretch the lead deeper into the teens. Barnett connected from deep just 5:30 into the second half to cut the margin to a dozen at 53-41. Over the next four minutes, Avila spread the lead back out to 18 capped by a Williams layup. With 3:42 left, Suvalija knocked down another triple as UHSP was with 13 at 74-61, but now time was becoming an issue and the Eutectics had no answer for Williams. The explosive point guard went dunk, layup, dunk, jumper after the Suvalija triple to carry Avila to the finish line with UHSP never able to get within single digits after that lengthy first-half drought. Williams spent the night putting on a high-wire act frequently finishing at the rim with his performance including three thunderous alley-oops and a windmill slam. Williams was a big reason why Avila outscored UHSP in the paint 58-22.

Barnett scored 22 points to lead UHSP along with seven assists while Suvalija added 16 points and four rebounds. Xavier Kahube had 17 points, nine boards, three assists and three steals for Avila and Robert Lee III had 14 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Avila made ten more field goals than UHSP going 34-of-62 from the floor (54.8%) while the Eutectics were 24-of-54 (44.4%). UHSP did knock down a dozen threes on 12-of-32 shooting (37.5%) while the Eagles were 3-for-15 (20%). Avila won the rebound battle 37-30 and only turned it over nine times while UHSP gave it up 15 times.

As the Eutectics hit the Thanksgiving break, they will resume conference play after the calendar flips to December. UHSP (5-3, 0-2 AMC) has three straight home AMC matches ahead beginning with William Woods (7-2, 1-1 AMC) on Thursday, December 5 at 7:30pm. After that, Hannibal-LaGrange and Missouri Baptist make visits to the UHSP Gymnasium before the Eutectics play their next road game on December 14 at Williams Baptist.