Thanks to some white-hot shooting from beyond the arc, the Lancers survived a late rally by Eureka to defeat the Wildcats 74-65 in front of a whiteout crowd on Feb. 10. Senior Joel Pennington and sophomore Nate Messer both went 3 for 4 on three-pointers and led the Lancers with 25 and 16 points, respectively.

“Joel’s just been on and for me, it was the fact that it was a big game so I had confidence,” Messer said.

While the Lancers made over half of their field goals, the Wildcats converted more shots overall and stayed in the game until late in the fourth quarter. However, the Lancers won the game at the free throw line, where they went 19 for 23 compared to just 5 of 10 for the Wildcats.

After the Lancers went into halftime up 42-31, the Lancers were outscored in the third quarter and gave up the lead on a three-pointer by Eureka’s Taylor Jarvis midway through the fourth quarter. But Pennington responded with a triple of his own to make it 58-56 and put the Lancers ahead for good.

“We need to work on finishing games, mostly getting defensive stops and rebounding,” Messer said of his team’s outlook for the rest of the season.

With the win, the Lancers improved to 16-7 overall and remain tied with Parkway South at 6-0 in the Suburban West standings. Up next is a Senior Night matchup with Lindbergh at 7 p.m. on Feb. 14 followed by the Feb. 17 showdown against Parkway South that could decide the Conference championship.

“The biggest key for us is consistency. Our effort is great but we need to play a consistent 32 minutes on offense and defense,” Assistant Coach Matt Landwher said.