By: A 21-6 advantage in points scored at the free-throw line was the difference in an 87-73 Illinois College win.
Box Score
GALESBURG, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team picked up its first Midwest Conference win of the season on Wednesday night with an 87-73 victory at Knox College. The Blueboys outscored the Prairie Fire, 21-6, from the free-throw line and had a double-digit lead most of the second half as they cruised to victory. IC is now 4-10 (1-8 MWC) while Knox drops to 1-13 (1-8 MWC).
Knox led on only two occasions in the game. After winning the opening tip, the Prairie Fire took a 2-0 lead within 15 seconds, though
Mason Speer was fouled on the other end and tied the game at 2-2. After
Payton Dugan scored to put IC on top, a three-point play by Jonathan Damota gave Knox a 5-4 edge. On the other end,
Tim Schappaugh grabbed an offensive rebound and then buried a three-pointer to put the Blueboys on top, 7-5. They would never trail again.
With Illinois College on top, 13-10,
John Taylor and Speer hit back-to-back triples and
Tim Parks added a free throw in a 7-0 run that put the Blueboys ahead, 20-10. When Knox scored five straight to cut the lead in half,
Mitchell Patterson promptly made a pair of jumpers and Speer went to the line for two more again in a quick 6-0 run to stretch the lead back to double-digits. Though the Prairie Fire hit a buzzer-beater, IC still went into the break winning 37-27.
In the second half, DeAndre Weathersby hit a three-pointer to start it off and trim Illinois College's lead down to 37-30, but Knox would not get any closer the rest of the way. A Patterson steal led to a bucket by the senior to restore order, and soon thereafter a three-point play from Taylor extended it out to a 49-34 lead for the Blueboys.
A brief 9-3 run for Knox brought the Prairie Fire back to within nine points one final time, but Schappaugh answered with a three-pointer, and both
Sean McDonald and
David Bauer hit one moments later to build a 61-45 lead at the midway point of the second half. As time ticked away on Knox, the IC lead crested at 17 points and the Blueboys easily held on for the victory.
Patterson supplied Illinois College with its second-highest scoring outburst of the season, netting 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 shooting from the charity stripe. Four others were in double-figures for IC:
Payton Dugan with 12 points, Bauer and Speer with 11, and Schappaugh with 10. The Blueboys ended the night shooting 21-of-25 from the free-throw line.
Illinois College looks to build on its momentum with a home game against Cornell College on Jan. 21. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m.
