By: Illinois College made life difficult for the MWC’s second-leading scorer, yet Ripon had just enough in the tank to get past the Blueboys, 80-73.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Given the opportunity to play spoiler against a team vying for one of the top spots in the Midwest Conference standings, the Illinois College men's basketball team nearly came away with an upset victory on Saturday, but fell to Ripon College by a count of 80-73 in overtime. IC fell to 4-17 (3-13 MWC), while Ripon maintained its tie for second place in the conference with Monmouth at 14-7 (11-5 MWC).
Ripon's Ty Sabin came in as the second-leading scorer in the conference at 29.1 points per game, a guard capable of torching teams from anywhere on the floor. Though he showed flashes of that, he was largely held in check by an Illinois College defense that was keyed on him. The sophomore ended with 22 points in the game, but was 7-of-20 from the floor, far below his season field goal percentage of .547.
A 4-0 start to the game by Illinois College was quickly negated by a 9-0 run from Ripon that ended with two layups from Sabin.
Blake Shehorn ended the run with an easy bucket off a feed from
Cody Hildebrand, but that three-point IC deficit would grow to 15-8 and force a timeout out of the Blueboys.
Trailing 27-17 with 6:30 to go in the first half after a Sabin three-pointer, Illinois College closed out the half well to go into the break only down three. Hildebrand started the comeback with a jumper and
Brandon Fishburn followed with a three-pointer to cut the deficit in half. After Kyle Loughrin (a game-high 28 points) and Sabin answered to go back up by nine, the Blueboys reeled off eight unanswered points, with Hildebrand supplying six to cut it to a 31-30 contest. A pair of Sabin free throws in the final minute gave the Red Hawks a 33-30 lead at halftime.
Ripon's lead was five, 40-35, when a 14-4 run from Illinois College changed the complexion of the game.
Mitchell Patterson led off the rally with a three-point play and Shehorn supplied the tying bucket. After the Red Hawks retook the lead,
Tim Schappaugh gave IC its first lead since early in the first half with a trey. Schappaugh then extended the Blueboy lead to three with a tough layup, and
Jacob Taylor gave IC its largest lead, 49-44, on a fast break layup with 9:53 to play.
With things shifting in the direction of Illinois College, Ripon used a timeout and responded back with a 6-0 run in less than two minutes to go back on top by a point. The Red Hawks would hold the lead throughout the final minutes of regulation, but never could make the plays that would have ended it. Twice in the final five minutes of the second half,
David Bauer buried three-pointers to bring the Blueboys back within two points, the last coming with 2:12 to play.
That second Bauer three-pointer made it 67-65 for Ripon, and neither team would score for more than two minutes. Illinois College rebounded a Loughrin miss with 23 seconds left and used a timeout. Spreading the floor with shooters, the Blueboys ended up with an isolation opportunity for Schappaugh and the sophomore drove in hard for a layup. He took contact on the play and muscled the ball towards the rim where it went around and out with less than seven seconds remaining. Nevertheless, he showed no nerves, going to the line and sinking a pair that sent the game to an extra session.
Overtime got off to as good of a start as you can ask for. Patterson won the tap and it went to Hildebrand, who got the rim and scored immediately to put IC in front. After Ripon tied it, Patterson was fouled on the next possession and knocked in both free throws for a 71-69 lead.
At that point, Sabin had a quiet 17 points in the game, but a three-pointer put the Red Hawks back out in front and a twisting layup on the next possession made it 74-71 with three minutes remaining. The Blueboys came up empty on back-to-back possessions – including a Schappaugh three-pointer that would have tied it – leading to a Loughrin three-point play with 1:25 to play that was essentially the dagger that Ripon had been looking for all game long. Hildebrand made a pair of free throws to bring IC back within four, but three free throws from Ripon the final 65 seconds were enough to finish off the Blueboys.
Hildebrand led Illinois College with 20 points in the contest, shooting 8-of-11 from the field and knocking in all four of his free throws. Fishburn added 11 points in the game, while Schappaugh had 10. Patterson had 10 points, a team-high nine rebounds and five assists. Shehorn led the IC bench with eight points.
The Blueboys will make their final road trip of the season on Wednesday night, traveling to Monmouth College to face the Scots at 7:30 p.m.
