By: Illinois College knocked down 13 three-pointers on Tuesday night to earn a hard-fought 85-82 win over Knox.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Five players in double-figures helped the Illinois College men's basketball team nab an 85-82 win over Knox College on Tuesday night in Sherman Gymnasium. The Blueboys were 13-of-29 as a team from downtown in the game, helping them improve to 3-3 (1-2 Midwest Conference). The Prairie Fire fell to 1-4 (0-3 MWC) in defeat.
Max Stutsman led Illinois College in the game with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Mitchell Patterson had 15 points and a team-high eight rebounds, while
Tim Schappaugh had 15 points and five assists.
Brad Herrmann hit four three-pointers off the bench for 12 points and
David Bauer added 11.
Early on, it was Knox controlling the action. A
Payton Dugan layup was the lone IC bucket in a 12-2 run for the Prairie Fire to start the game. Patterson ended the cold stretch for the Blueboys with a three-point play down low. Still trailing 17-7, Illinois College came back to knot the game at 17-17 with a 10-0 run keyed by three-pointers from Herrmann and Schappaugh.
A Deandre Weathersby triple momentarily gave Knox the lead back at 20-17, but Schappaugh nailed a three-pointer against Weathersby's defense on the other end to launch an 8-0 run that ended with a Herrmann three-pointer for a 25-20 lead with eight minutes to go until the half. Eventually the lead would grow to as many as seven points after a Stutsman three-point play that made it 40-33 with 2:40 to go, but Knox scored the last four points of the half to make it 40-37 at the intermission.
The Prairie Fire continued their solid play in the opening minutes of the second half to retake the lead and go up, 51-49, with 15:19 remaining. Stutsman nailed a triple to put the Blueboys back on top and that was followed by a Dugan three-point play and a Bauer layup to give IC a 57-51 edge. Consecutive treys from Bauer and Herrmann would give the Blueboys their first double-digit lead at 66-56 with 10:29 to play.
A Knox comeback quickly followed. A layup from Grant Billimack made it 69-69 with less than seven minutes remaining and his three-point play at the 6:16 mark gave the Prairie Fire their final lead at 72-71. Stutsman connected on another three-pointer to make it 74-72 and Patterson scored off of a
Cody Hildebrand feed to make it 76-72.
The Blueboys held onto the game from there, although Knox cut the IC lead to two points on five occasions as the clock ticked down. Hildebrand made two crucial free throws with seven seconds left to give Illinois College an 84-80 lead. Knox moved swiftly downcourt to score on a layup with four seconds to play and Hildebrand was fouled again on the inbounds pass. After missing the first one, Hildebrand knocked in the second and a Knox desperation three at the buzzer hit rim and bounced away.
Illinois College will look to make it two in a row on Dec. 12 when the Blueboys host Ripon College in Sherman Gymnasium at 1 p.m.
