Blueboys Win in OT to Give Worrell his 200th Victory

Box Score
LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team gave Head Coach Mike Worrell his 200th career victory in thrilling fashion on Wednesday night, rallying to claim a 77-75 overtime win over Lake Forest College. The Blueboys – winners of three in a row – move to 6-10 (3-8 Midwest Conference) while sending Lake Forest to 9-7 (7-4 MWC).

The first half was evenly-played, with Lake Forest pulling ahead as the half wore on thanks to the efforts of Jim Schick. Schick would end up shooting 9-for-9 from the field in the contest, and seven of those field goals came in the first half. The largest lead of the game for either team came when Schick hit a short jumper to increase the Foresters' lead to 29-21 with 5:33 left in the first half. That was answered immediately by buckets from Dom Aiello and Sean McDonald to help the Blueboys go to the half trailing by just six, 34-28.

With Lake Forest ahead, 38-31, Illinois College stormed back into the game with a 10-0 run. Mitchell Patterson started it off with a layup before Max Stutsman scored five straight to tie it. McDonald then gave IC its first lead since early on with a three at the 15-minute mark of the second half.

Later in the half, Lake Forest grabbed a 58-52 edge with 5:27 to go, but the Blueboys again had an answer. Tim Schappaugh connected on a pair of three-pointers and accounted for eight straight IC points to tie the game at 60-60. A layup from Payton Dugan put Illinois College on top, 64-62, with 1:39 to play, but two Mike Rueffer free throws nine seconds later tied the game at 64-64 and neither team would score the rest of regulation.

The offensive drought for both teams continued for the first two minutes of overtime until Patterson converted a three-point play to give Illinois College a 67-64 edge. After getting a stop, Dugan added onto the lead from a Stutsman pass to make it 69-64 halfway through the extra session. Schick then scored to get the Foresters on the board in overtime, but Mason Speer splashed a three, upping the IC advantage to 72-66 with less than two minutes remaining.

The rest of overtime turned into a free throw contest, and Lake Forest was able to pull to within 76-75 with 10 seconds left. Stutsman was fouled on the ensuing inbounds pass and made one of two to give the Blueboys a two-point lead. Lake Forest headed downcourt but a pass was knocked out-of-bounds with less than a second left. On the inbounds, Jordan Moran had a clean look from the short corner, but his shot clanked off the back iron and IC held on for the two-point win.

Schappaugh led Illinois College with 16 points on the night. Speer had 12 points and six assists, while Patterson tacked on 12 points and five assists. Dugan and McDonald each ended with nine points and David Bauer had eight.

Illinois College will conclude a two-game road trip on Jan. 28 with a 3 p.m. matchup with Ripon College.