EUREKA, Ill. – In a game that took nearly 18 hours to complete, The W men's basketball won its fourth-consecutive St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) bout, topping Eureka College, 99-67. In the process, the Owls (7-6, 4-1 SLIAC) kept themselves in a tie for second place in the SLIAC standings with the win over the Red Devils (2-11, 1-3 SLIAC) at the Reagan Gym.

The matchup between MUW and Eureka actually began on Thursday evening (Jan. 8) at 7:30 p.m. But severe storms in the Central Illinois region played havoc even prior to the men's tipoff, with several power outages interrupting the women's preliminary game. The W men came out of the gate quickly, amassing a 34-17 lead. But with 7:37 left in the opening half, the torrential rains knocked out power to the entire town of Eureka, forcing a suspension of the game until 12 p.m. on Friday.

MUW Head Coach Dean Burrows and his team slept on the clubhouse lead, and did not miss a beat when play resumed.  By halftime, the Owls had expanded their advantage to 21 points, 49-28. Midway through the second half, that cushion grew to 30 points, a margin MUW maintained for the remainder of the contest.

"We've had a late evening practice, followed by an early morning practice the next day, a few instances every season," Burrows said of his team handling the odd game situation. "I believe that helped us in this instance, along with having to play back-to-back days, in a quick turnaround, a few weeks back in Memphis."

"We won every single statistical category that we emphasize daily," Burrows continued. "But what I'm most proud of was our 29 assists. We need to do a good job of recovering as much as possible this evening to try and be ready to compete against a team in Blackburn (Sat., Jan. 10/3 p.m.) who are quick and play hard."

Four Owls finished in double-figure scoring, led by sophomore Tray Huguley's 25 points, on a 12-for-16 night/day from the floor. It was Huguley's 11th consecutive game with double-figure points. He also paced all players with 14 rebounds (all on the defensive glass) for his seventh double-double in the last eight games for the Owls.

Junior Tyler Shephard had his second-straight 20-point game, finishing with 21 by hitting 5-of-12 from the field, including a pair of three-pointers, and 9-of-10 free throws. Shephard also had six rebounds to his credit.

Joe Haze Austin came off The W bench with another of his patented, all-around solid games by flirting with a triple-double. Austin finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, 8 assists, and three blocks. He hit 7-of-12 from the field, overall.

Devin McCaine rounded out the quartet with double figures by tallying 15 points. McCaine shot 6-for-16 from the field and had two treys, as well.

Like Austin, Trent Walker narrowly missed a triple-double, as well, versus the Red Devils. Walker scored nine points, grabbed eight rebounds, and had nine assists. He also made three steals.\

MUW held a 46-34 advantage on the glass. and its 29 assists were the second-most in a single game in program history. The Owls more than doubled up on EC for points in the paint, 50 to 24, and the hosts could not match MUW's speed, with 24 fastbreak points for the Owls (compared to five by the Red Devils).