ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The men's basketball team competed against Eureka in the semifinals of the SLIAC tournament on Friday at Webster and came up short 163-146 to end their season.
Greenville opened the game by scoring the first seven points before Eureka went on a 9-2 run to tie the game. A three-pointer by Barry Nixon broke the Panther scoring drought, and GU held an 18-16 lead at the first media timeout.
The Panthers eventually felt the loss of senior guard Johari Dix who went to the bench with his third foul with 13:07 to go in the first half, but it took a while to see the impact as Greenville managed to open up a 33-26 lead with 11:01 on the first period clock.
Greenville led 33-31 at the second media time out, and Eureka grabbed their first lead of the game with 8:50 to go in the first half.
The score was tied at 44-all at the third media timeout, and the Panthers went ahead 47-44 on a three-pointer by Anthony Zataray. Greenville led 49-48 at the third media timeout with 4:49 on the clock.
Eureka outscored Greenville 25-18 over the last 4:49 to lead 73-67 at the half.
Rakim Murphy picked up the Panthers with 12 points in the first half.
In the second half, Eureka extended their lead to 10, 95-85, with 14:47 left in the half. Johari Dix returned to the floor with eight points in a little over five minutes.
The Panthers forced Eureka to call a timeout with 13 minutes left in the second half as they were trailing 99-91. The Panthers eventually cut the deficit to four at 99-95.
Eric Williams tied the score at 110-all on a three-point play with 9:59 left in the second half, and he gave the Panthers a 115-114 lead on a three-pointer with 9:13 to go. That was Greenville's final lead of the game.
The Panthers reduced the deficit to one with 5:04 to play but couldn't get any closer the rest of the way.
Eric Williams ended the game as Greenville's leading scorer with 27 points and produced a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Dix ended his career with 22 points in his final game, and his four assists gave him possession of GU's all-time assists record at 506. He passed Brian Patton, currently Greenville's cross country and track and field coach, who played from 1984-88 and held the record for 30 years.
Isiah Price concluded his career with a 19 point game, and Murphy had 17 points.
Barry Nixon and Kodi Badger each had three steals as the Panthers forced 30 turnovers by Eureka.
Following the game, the SLIAC recognized members of the all-conference team.
Greenville's Dix was selected to the second team, and Williams received third team honors.
Dix was also named to the all-defensive team. Price was Greenville's honoree on the all-sportsmanship team.
The Panthers concluded their season with an overall record of 17-9.