By: Although it was just a one-point game at halftime, the Vikings seemed to have an answer for every Illinois College attempt to rally in the second half.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team scrapped and clawed to stay close to Lawrence University in the first half on Friday night, but the Vikings stretched out to a double-digit lead in the second half and were able come away with a 78-70 win over the Blueboys. The Vikings improved to 1-2 (1-0 Midwest Conference), while the Blueboys sank to 1-3 (0-2 MWC).
The game was chippy from the early moments when Connor Weas was whistled for a technical after jawing with the Illinois College bench after a made three-pointer.
Tim Schappaugh made one of two at the line on the technical and then made two more on a subsequent possession for a 5-3 Illinois College lead.
Both team would deal with foul issues in the first half, but they hit the Lawrence big men particularly hard in the opening 20 minutes. Starting post player Mitch Willer was limited to six minutes on the court before halftime with only one shot attempt after picking up two personal fouls early in the game. Without one of their key players, the Vikings had to mix and match lineups and rely on the three-ball for much of their offense.
Lawrence led, 16-11, before
Sean McDonald canned a three-pointer and
Max Stutsman grabbed an offensive rebound and went back up with it to tie the game at 16-16. Jeramy Stephani came back with two straight triples to help keep LU out in front, 23-19. A McDonald jumper with less than three minutes to go in the first half gave Illinois College a brief 29-28 advantage, but Lawrence came back with a 7-0 run in which all the points came at the line to take a 35-29 lead with just over a minute to go.
The Blueboys were able to draw closer before the break as
Mason Speer accounted for five points in the final minute to make it 35-34 at halftime.
Illinois College had the opening possession of the second half and
Payton Dugan scored on a layup to give IC a 36-35 edge. On the other end, Quinn Fisher knocked down a three that was answered by a tipped in rebound by Dugan to knot the score at 38-38. That would be the last tie of the contest though. Lawrence went on a 10-2 run capped by threes from Ben Peterson and Stephani for a 48-40 lead, forcing a timeout from the Blueboys.
After the break, Illinois College regrouped and twice pulled to within two points, the last time at 52-50 on a McDonald jumper at the 11:23 mark. No longer handcuffed by foul trouble, Willer made his presence felt with back-to-back buckets and Weas made a shot as well to up the Lawrence lead to 58-50 with 9:44 remaining.
Mitchell Patterson scored on the other end to slice it to 58-52, but the IC offense then went quiet at the worst possible time.
Though the Blueboys were able to score at the line, more than six minutes went by before
Tim Parks hit a jumper with 2:46 to play. By that time, the Lawrence lead was 12 and the clock was significantly working against IC. A hoop by
David Bauer and a Parks three-pointer just before the buzzer kept the Blueboys the deficit to single-digits, but the Vikings ran out the clock for the win.
Patterson notched a double-double in his first start of the season, going for 14 points and 10 rebounds. McDonald ended with 12 points and Speer added 11. Four players scored in double-figures for the Vikings, led by 14 from Willer, all of which came in the second half.
Illinois College closes out the weekend tomorrow with a 3 p.m. matchup against St. Norbert College at Sherman Gymnasium.
