By: After Illinois College rallied out of a six-point halftime deficit to briefly lead in the second half, Cornell College heated up and pulled away for a 71-63 victory.
Box Score
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Illinois College men's basketball team jumped out to a fast start in each half but cooled down late in the contest as the Blueboys suffered a 71-63 loss to Cornell College on Wednesday night. After rallying from six down at the half to take a lead, IC gave up six straight points to the Rams and couldn't manage another push down the stretch. Cornell improves to 4-6 (2-3 Midwest Conference) while Illinois College falls to 3-7 (0-5 MWC).
The Blueboys started off hot as
Mason Speer hit two three-pointers in the opening minute of the game off of feeds from
Max Stutsman. On IC's third trip down the floor, Stutsman hit a three-pointer with Speer providing the assist for a 9-2 lead.
Illinois College maintained a seven-point lead at 13-6 after a Speer layup, but Cornell came back to tie the game at 13-13 with a 7-0 run over two minutes of play.
Tim Parks ended the run with the first of five treys in the game for the sophomore, but a 10-0 run followed for the Rams, putting them ahead, 23-16, with less than nine minutes to go in the first half.
Needing someone to provide a lift on offense,
Payton Dugan accounted for 10 straight Illinois College points over the next four minutes, keeping the Blueboys in range, down 31-26. In the final minutes before the half,
John Taylor made a pair at the line, Parks connected on another triple, and
Dom Aiello corralled an offensive rebound and laid it in just before the buzzer to make it 39-33 in favor of Cornell at the break.
Speer started the second half with a three-pointer to trim the Cornell lead to three and the sophomore followed that with a pair of nice defensive plays, swatting loose balls off of Cornell players near the sideline and earning the Blueboys some defensive stops. Following one of those steals, Stutsman knocked down another three-ball, tying the game at 43-43. Though the Rams went on a 6-0 run to re-take a 49-43 advantage, Parks and Speer came back with consecutive three-pointers and
Mitchell Patterson made one of two at the line to give IC a 50-49 lead with 11:31 to play.
That would prove to be the only lead that Illinois College would have in the second half. On Cornell's next two possessions, Keegan Van Kooten knocked down three-pointers from Corey Davis assists and the lead grew to eight, 62-54, after Jan Siegien made a three on another Davis assist with 5:19 remaining.
The Blueboys tried to rally one final time as Parks hit two threes within a minute of each other to make it 64-60 at the four-minute mark, but the sophomore would foul out soon after and the IC offense disappeared after he went to the bench. Cornell scored seven of the final 10 points of the game to seal it from there.
Dugan ended with a team-high 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor. Parks added 15, going 5-of-9 from behind the arc. Speer had 14 and Stutsman also reached double-figures with 10.
Illinois College returns home on Jan. 7 to face Beloit College in Sherman Gymnasium. Tip-off is slated for 3 p.m.
