By: Down seven at the break, the Blueboys pulled within two points in the second half but could never come all the way back in a 76-72 loss to the Vikings.
Box Score
APPLETON, Wis. – The Illinois College men's basketball team fell on Friday night in the Midwest Conference opener, losing a 76-72 decision on the road at Lawrence University. The Vikings improve to 4-0 (1-0 MWC), with the Blueboys dropping to 3-1 (0-1 MWC).
In the early going, neither team could be stopped as Lawrence went up, 8-7, with two minutes gone. Brady Hays almost single-handedly kept Illinois College in it, scoring 13 of the team's first 19 points. His output allowed the Blueboys to hang with the Vikings throughout much of the half and a
Mason Speer layup gave IC its largest lead of the game at 26-23. Two minutes later, a Jeremy Stephani three-pointer put LU on top, 27-26, and the lead grew to 41-34 at halftime.
Speer opened the second half by burying an open three, but Lawrence came back with back-to-back triples to take its one and only double-digit lead at 47-37. Hays had the answer and that was followed by three straight buckets by Speer as part of an 8-0 run that trimmed the deficit back to 47-45 with 14:30 to play.
Lawrence continued to lead, but Illinois College was able to make the occasional defensive stop to keep it close. Trailing, 56-49,
Tim Parks had a nice steal and coast-to-coast layup to trim it to five with 9:30 left. Four straight points by the Vikings increased it back to 60-51 and forced a timeout from IC with 8:11 to go. Out of that stoppage,
Max Stutsman hit on a straightaway three-pointer and two from Hays at the line with 4:34 to play again made it a six-point game at 66-60.
With the score 69-62, Parks had another steal and breakaway, but this one resulted in an intentional foul as he was grabbed from behind as he streaked downcourt. Parks hit both foul shots to cut it to five, but the Blueboys came up empty on their ensuing possession with just under two minutes to go.
In the final seven seconds, Hays made two foul shots to make it 74-69. On the ensuing inbounds pass, Speer stole the pass and dished it under the basket to
Sean McDonald who laid it in with a foul to make it 74-72 with just under five seconds to go. Illinois College forced Lawrence to use its final timeout when the Vikings couldn't find an inbounds option, but LU was successful on its second opportunity and the Blueboys were forced to foul. Facing a one-and-one, Abhishek Venkatesh sunk both foul shots with three seconds left to salt the game away.
Speer ended with a game-high 22 points along with six rebounds. Hays had 20 points and seven boards. McDonald ended with a double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Off the bench, Parks had 10 points and six rebounds.
Illinois College returns to action tomorrow afternoon, facing St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis. at 1 p.m.
