Benedictine (18-5, 8-2 NIIC) had beaten Eureka (6-15, 2-6 NIIC) by a 93-70 count on Jan. 15 in the teams' first meeting of the season, and for the first 20 minutes of the game, the two teams played a tight game.
Clint Rabbe staked Eureka to an 8-4 lead with a 3-pointer in the opening minutes, and the Red Devils led 10-7 five minutes into the game. Benedictine scored 12 of the next 15 points, however – with four points each coming from Adam Hansen and Mike Shimkus – to take a 19-13 lead.
The Eagles maintained a lead for the rest of the half, and took a 37-27 advantage on a Tim Swanson trey with under two minutes left in the half. However, Eureka was able to cut its deficit in half by the break, as Claye Vogelsang scored five straight points to close the first 20 minutes, which included a steal and jumper right before the halftime buzzer.
Nine different players scored in Benedictine's 22-5 run to open the second stanza, with Matt Harrison accounting for seven of those points, as the Eagles built a 59-37 lead. After a Vogelsang bucket closed Eureka's deficit to 20 points, Benedictine got back-to-back conventional three-point plays from Swanson and Brice Amelianovich to increase its lead to 26 points (65-39) with less than eight minutes to play.
Swanson led three players in double figures with a career-high 13 points for Benedictine, while Harrison added 12 points and Marcus Jackson contributed 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocked shots. The Eagles limited Eureka to 32 percent shooting for the game, while managing 46 percent shooting themselves.
Vogelsang and Neil Ropp each had 13 points to pace Eureka.
Benedictine will be off for a week before visiting Concordia (Ill.) University on Wednesday, Feb. 16.