Behind a late fourth quarter push, the St. Louis U. High basketball defeated Eureka 49-36 in a non-conference matchup on Saturday, Jan. 23. With the win, SLUH improved to 5-4 and handed Eureka just its third loss of the season.

Eureka had no answer for junior Nick Kramer, who tied his career high with a 28-point performance, shooting 11 for 15 from the field. Kramer, who is now averaging 18.6 points per game, has scored more than 20 points in each of the team’s last three games.

“Nick’s been vital, not only scoring but his rebounding, his leadership have been really good this year,” said head coach Erwin Claggett. “That mentality has been infectious and the fact that his teammates allow him to be him and still play their game has helped out a lot.”

SLUH fired on all cylinders early, starting the game on an 8-0 run. Sophomore Zachary Ortwerth stuffed the stat sheet on the big run, pitching in a layup, block, offensive rebound, and assist to help build the Jr. Bills’ lead. 

On Eureka’s next trip down the court, sophomore Aaron Walker Jr. poked the ball from Eureka guard Trace Ruckman into the hands of junior Luke Johnston, who converted on the other end with a Euro-step layup to put SLUH up by eight before Eureka called an early timeout.

After the timeout, Kramer connected on a deep three-pointer to extend SLUH’s lead to 11, the largest it would get on the afternoon. Ruckman answered with a three of his own to give Eureka its first points of the day, but Kramer drained a mid-range two before the end of the first quarter to put SLUH up 13-3.

Eureka trimmed the lead with an improved second quarter performance, outscoring SLUH 10-5. Just seconds into the quarter, Eureka guard Clayton Guntli collected the loose ball off a quick Walker Jr. turnover and converted a layup on the offensive end. On the next possession, Eureka forward Alex Wangerin found a mismatch in the post with SLUH junior Jaden McClain guarding him, putting in the layup off a lob-pass from the perimeter and prompting Claggett to use his first timeout of the game.

After the timeout, Wangerin sank a corner three for Eureka off a baseline pass from guard Luke Laudel that cut the lead to just three. After a back-and-forth end to the quarter, SLUH took an 18-13 lead into the half.

In a much faster-paced third quarter, Eureka outscored SLUH 17-12 to tie the game heading into the fourth quarter. Eureka took its first lead of the game on a deep three from guard Caiden Roellig, the team’s third of the quarter, that made the score 22-20. 

SLUH’s defense had no response for Eureka’s three-point barrage, as Eureka went on to nail two more threes and extend their lead to 28-24. But SLUH closed the quarter on a 6-2 run, capped off by a buzzer-beating, alley-oop layup by Nick Kramer off the inbounds pass.

“We had a couple breakdowns as far as when we were supposed to switch on shooters and we didn’t get that done,” Claggett said. “(Eureka) hit us right away.”

SLUH’s defense completely dominated the fourth quarter to secure the victory. Eureka, which had connected on five three-pointers in the third quarter, failed to convert on any of its three-point opportunities in the fourth, shooting a dismal 0 for 8 from deep. SLUH outscored Eureka 19-6 in the fourth en route to the team’s victory, and Kramer led all players with 10 points in the quarter.

“Our offense really helped our defense get back in transition and find shooters,” Claggett said. “But I think the main thing was just patience and execution.”

Twenty-six of Eureka’s 41 field goal attempts— a whopping 63 percent—came from beyond the arc, but they converted on just eight of those attempts. In the end, SLUH forced Eureka to a season-worst 0.688 points per possession, Eureka’s worst offensive performance of the season and SLUH’s best defensively.

SLUH will face its toughest challenge of the season with a home matchup vs. Chaminade, the top team in the MCC thus far at 8-1 overall and 4-0 in MCC play. Led by standout juniors Tarris Reed Jr. and Damien Mayo Jr., Chaminade owns impressive wins vs. DeSmet, CBC, and Cardinal Ritter, with its lone loss coming in a three-point loss vs. Vashon. The game will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast on the SLUH Sports Network.