By: Illinois College shot 72 percent in the first half and used a late run in the final minutes to pick up an impressive Midwest Conference victory on Tuesday night.
Box Score JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team wasn't fazed by Grinnell's constant pressure on the defensive end and up-tempo pace on the offensive end, going blow for blow with the Pioneers and emerging with a 125-119 win on Tuesday night at Sherman Gymnasium. Five players ended in double-figures for the Blueboys, including career highs of 29 for
David Bauer and 25 for
Dom Aiello. IC improves to 6-11 (3-9 Midwest Conference), while Grinnell falls to 8-9 (5-7 MWC).
It was a night of offensive accolades up and down the lineup for Illinois College. The Blueboys shot 72 percent in the first half and better than 62 percent for the game. Besides Bauer and Aiello,
Tim Schappaugh had 17 points,
Cody Hildebrand had 13 and
Max Stutsman added a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Mason Speer attempted only four shots on the evening, but his 12 assists tied for seventh all-time at IC in a single game and were the most by a Blueboy player since Bobby Bonjean supplied 13 on Feb. 5, 1994 against Knox.
The tone of the game was set on the opening tip.
Mitchell Patterson won it and tapped it out to
Cody Hildebrand. With three of the Grinnell players lining up in the frontcourt, it immediately turned into a 2-on-1 and Hildebrand's pass back to Patterson set him up perfectly for the flush with three seconds elapsed.
With Grinnell attempting three-pointers at every opportunity (the Pioneers would end with 18 made threes on 53 attempts in the game), the game was high-scoring right from the outset. Grinnell took its largest lead of the game with 16:20 remaining in the first half after a Jacob Ekstrand three gave the Pioneers an 18-12 edge.
Aiello was the pressure valve on Illinois College's press break and he accounted for 10 straight points after checking in for Stutsman, giving the Blueboys a 20-19 advantage after dunking a feed from Bauer. Grinnell still led by three, 27-24, with nearly eight minutes gone, but the Pioneers would soon hit a skid and IC continued to pound away offensively, going on a 12-0 run to take a 36-27 lead.
The Blueboys were on fire from behind the three-point arc in the first half, going 7-of-10 in the first 20 minutes. Schappaugh hit two straight from behind the line to give Illinois College a 42-32 edge and Bauer hit one a minute later to make it 45-35. A Schappaugh heat check triple upped the lead to 52-40 and Hildebrand converted a three-point play to give IC its largest lead of the night, 55-40. The lead would hover around 15 for the next few minutes, but a late three from Grinnell made it 65-56 in favor of the Blueboys at the half.
The Pioneers came out hot in the second half and had the Illinois College lead down to two within two minutes. Schappaugh was able to hold off Grinnell with a three-point play for IC's first points of the half, but Matt Jasaitis knocked in a three-pointer to make it 68-68 with 17 minutes left to play. Eight straight points from Aiello gave the Blueboys some breathing room at 76-71, but turnovers began to mount and led to easy Pioneer baskets. A steal off of an inbounds pass and a Jasaitis free throw gave Grinnell an 84-82 lead with 10:37 to play.
On Illinois College's next trip down the floor, Bauer banged in a three-pointer from the top of the key to put the Blueboys back up, but Grinnell began to find more success and the next few minutes were mostly played with the Pioneers out in front. A Ky-Sean Johnson layup gave the visitors a 101-96 lead with 5:39 left and IC was suddenly in danger of losing touch with the Pioneers.
The reply came from Bauer behind the arc yet again. The sophomore made 7-of-8 from distance and his three pulled Illinois College back within two. Hildebrand and Bauer each then went 1-for-2 at the line and the game was tied back up at 101-101 with 4:21 to play.
The game was still very much up in the air and an Ikaika Phillip layup with 2:12 left put Grinnell ahead by a score of 110-106. Phillip missed his chance at a three-point play though and Bauer cashed in another trey to start an 11-0 run at a critical juncture for Illinois College. Patterson followed with a pair of free throws to put IC ahead and Bauer then scored six straight – one on a three-pointer and another on a three-point play after Speer stole the ball and spotted him up ahead for the layup.
By that point only 1:05 was left on the clock and the lead was seven. The Blueboys made enough free throws in the closing stages to come away with the victory. Fittingly, the final points of the game belonged to Bauer, capping his 23-point second half.
Besides the players in double-figures, Patterson had nine points, six rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks.
Payton Dugan ended with nine points and five assists. Speer added six points, five steals and four rebounds to his impressive night passing the ball.
Illinois College will look to build on tonight's win when it hosts Cornell College on Jan. 30. The Blueboys and Rams will tip in Sherman Gymnasium at 3 p.m.
