EUGENE - A close game at the half quickly turned into a blowout as the Eugene Eagles took down the St. Elizabeth Hornets 74-48 on Friday night in Show-Me Conference action.
While the victory added to Eugene's season win total, this win had another level of significance for Eugene. It marked head coach Craig Engelbrecht's 500th career win, many of those coming in his 26-year career at Eugene.
"When I started (coaching), I thought it was going to be like John Madden and only do it for like 10 years," Engelbrecht said. "He coached 10 years and he was done. I thought, 'That's the way to do it, coach for 10 and be out of it.' Well, 33 years and I'm still at it, so it's a very special time."
One of the players who helped lock up this win for Craig Engelbrecht was junior guard Austin Engelbrecht, who scored 19 points in the winning effort.
"I treat him like my son, but he's a distant relative," Craig Engelbrecht said. "He had an outstanding night. Having all these players here that have played for me and been part of this whole run has been the most special part of it."
Eugene (5-3) enjoyed a tremendous amount of offensive balance Friday night. In addition to Engelbrecht, two other players scored in double figures. These included junior forward Mason Kirkweg, who scored 12 points, as well as freshman forward Tre Kempker, who scored 11 points. Three other players came within a basket of scoring in double figures as well.
"That's the kind of team we should have," Engelbrecht said. "We should have a team that can have everybody on that particular night score in double figures and tonight it worked out that way. We've got eight players that play really well together. Any of those eight could score in double figures."
On the other side, St. Elizabeth (1-5) saw a 35-29 halftime deficit quickly turn into a 54-38 disadvantage at the end of the third quarter. The Hornets were only able to score 19 points after halftime and allowed the Eagles to score 39 after the break.
"I just think, offensively, we were just out of sync," St. Elizabeth coach Nick Voss said. "I think we only scored nine points in the third quarter. We were off sync offensively and I think (Eugene's) press might have gotten to us a little bit too there and it just wasn't a real good flow in that third quarter."
Offensively, the Hornets were led by junior guard Dakota Kemna, who scored 14 points. Eight of those came in the first quarter, scoring all of St. Elizabeth's points in the first eight minutes.
"Dakota does a good job of being able to get in the paint and getting to the rim," Voss said. "He's a very important part of our program along with a lot of other guys too. He did well tonight."
This loss continued a tough opening stretch to St. Elizabeth's season. The Hornets lost their first four games of the season. Voss said there were a few things his team could improve on as they continue the season.
"We need to just focus a little bit more," Voss said. "Just find a way to execute offensively. Defensively, we need to be able to focus and slow the ball down in transition. (Eugene) got a couple rebounds and kicked it out and got some easy layups. Those are things that we definitely need to improve on as a team and we'll work on that and get better at it."
St. Elizabeth will travel Monday to Mokane to face South Callaway in another conference contest. Eugene will play next in the Linn Invitational, where the No. 5 seed will face Iberia on Dec. 27 in the first round.