By: The Vikings trailed IC by 10 points after five minutes, then exploded to put the game away before halftime.
Box Score APPLETON, Wis. – Something about facing the Illinois College men's basketball team has been exactly what the doctor has ordered for Lawrence University this season. After the Vikings nailed 14 three-pointers in a game at Sherman Gymnasium earlier this year, Lawrence came back and shot 56 percent from the field, 54 percent from behind the arc and 94 percent from the free throw line in handing the Blueboys a 100-67 defeat on Saturday afternoon. The loss is the second straight for IC, who drops to 4-16 (3-12 Midwest Conference).
For the first five or so minutes, it looked like Illinois College was going to run Lawrence out of the gym. The Blueboys had multiple offensive contributors and put the Vikings on their heels in establishing an 18-8 lead after a
David Bauer three-pointer with 14:49 to go in the half. With little warning, Lawrence suddenly could do no wrong. Four points inside of a minute were a sign of what was to come and the Blueboys used a timeout, but it was to no avail. Lawrence came back out with consecutive three-pointers from Ryan DePouw (a game-high 26 points) and Jamie Nikitas to knot the score at 18-18.
The Blueboys would manage to lead twice more in the first half, but Lawrence was always quick to answer.
Mitchell Patterson connected on a mid-range jumper to put IC on top, 22-21, but the Vikings scored the next eight points to build a seven-point margin. After
Tim Schappaugh momentarily stopped the bleeding, LU again scored eight straight to go up, 37-24. With the Vikings making a three-pointer on seemingly every trip down the floor, the lead only expanded towards halftime and a buzzer-beating trey from Andrew Borresen gave Lawrence a 60-33 gap at the break.
The game was mostly decided by that point and the closest that Illinois College would get in the second half was 26 after a
Max Stutsman three-ball. That was naturally answered by a three from Lawrence to start an 8-0 run and the lead hovered in the thirties nearly the entire rest of the way.
Stutsman was a bright spot for the Blueboys, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 3-for-3 from distance.
Cody Hildebrand added 12 points, while Schappaugh had 10 points and tied for team-high rebounding honors with five. Bauer came off the bench to score 11 for IC.
Illinois College will look to turn things around back home next weekend, facing the Ripon Red Hawks on Feb. 14 at 3 p.m.
