Blueboys Complete Season Sweep of Knox

Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - Led by Mitchell Patterson's 16 points, six different members of the Illinois College men's basketball team scored in double figures to help lead the Blueboys to the home victory against Knox College in Tuesday's Midwest Conference matchup, 91-77. IC improves to 7-11 (4-9 MWC). Knox drops to 1-17 (1-12 MWC).

The night started off with a Patterson layup, giving the Blueboys the early 2-0 lead, but the first half was a back-and-forth affair, with neither team able to pull more than four points away from one another besides a brief six-point edge for IC after a Max Stutsman three-pointer early on. Stutsman pulled down his second offensive rebound of the half with 23 seconds remaining to give the Blueboys the last shot of the half. Mason Speer then found Sean McDonald under the basket for the buzzer-beater, as McDonald's layup tied the contest at 36-36 heading into the break.

The second half opened up with the same back-and-forth mentality as the first half, with each team trading baskets throughout the opening minutes of the half. Deryk Ruple laid it in with just over ten minutes left to give Knox the 58-56 advantage. From there, Tim Schappaugh, David Bauer and John Taylor hit three straight three-pointers to construct a 9-0 run that gave the Blueboys a 65-58 lead with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. 

Jacob Kampf drilled a triple to pull the Prairie Fire within two, 65-63, with seven minutes left, but that would be the closest Knox would come to erasing the deficit. Taylor hit another three to up the lead to five and Illinois College hit its free throws to secure the victory.

Besides Patterson's 16 points, the Blueboys had Bauer, Stutsman and Payton Dugan land in double-figures with 14 points apiece. Schappaugh and Speer added 10 each. 

Illinois College takes the court at home on Feb. 4 against Grinnell College. Tip-off at Sherman Gymnasium is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.