What Happened with the Eureka High School Boys' Winning Streak?

After going three weeks without a loss, the Eureka Wildcats varsity boys basketball team lost games in consecutive days.

Behind Ryan McArthy's 17 points, Parkway South won at Eureka, 69-60, on Friday in a significant Suburban West Conference tilt. The win allowed the Patriots (16-4) to improve to 2-1 in league play and stay alive for the conference title.

On Saturday, the Wildcats fell flat again at home in a 48-34 conference loss to a tough Marquette (12-8, 3-1)  team. Eureka is now 7-11 overall, and 1-3 and fading in league play.

The loss on Friday for ended a five-game winning streak, which was frustrating for head coach Craig Kennedy.

"It was absolutely disappointing that we didn't show up and were so flat," Kennedy said. "We just acted absolutely disinterested in the first half and came nowhere near matching their intensity and the only word that I can say about it is disappointing."

Eureka's Tyler Jordan led the Wildcats with 16 points.

"I would have liked to have been able to play him more in the first half without the foul trouble," Kennedy said. "He's very difficult to guard and can get to any lane just about any time he wants. When he starts shooting the ball a little bit better, he's going to be a real problem for people to guard off the dribble."

Despite his 16 points against the Patriots, Jordan believes the Wildcats lacked the toughness to win the ballgame.

"We just didn't play our game. We came out timid and we just didn't play tough," Jordan said. "That's what happens when you don't play tough out there, you lose."

Eureka's Landon Cleary also scored in double figures for the Wildcats with 11 points.

"In the first half, Parkway South did a great job of not getting him any looks," Kennedy said. "They really chased him off of screens and he just didn't get the number of looks he usually gets and I give credit to Mitch (Stevens) for that, because they know that he's a great shooter."

Like most schools in the area, Parkway South had been out of school the past several days due to the recent snow and ice storms, but that didn't stop the Patriots from jumping out to a 38-18 lead by halftime on Friday.

"It's tough coming off all the snow days that we had, but we came out ready to play," Parkway South head coach Mitch Stevens said. "I thought our effort was great in the first half and we had a little bit of a mental letdown in the last five minutes of the game, but I think a lot of that has to do with Eureka stepping up and hitting some big shots."

McArthy said, "We wanted to come out, work hard and pressure the ball and that's what we did.

"We took our starters out in the fourth quarter because we believe in our bench, but some things didn't necessarily go our way, but we have to move on past that and worry about our next game."

Tommy Holaway was solid throughout the evening for the Patriots as the senior center racked up 13 points against the Wildcats.

"Tom's been big for us all year long," Stevens said. "Eureka did a really nice job on him but he still found ways to score."