By: A 35-16 edge at the charity stripe keyed a 110-94 victory for the Pioneers on Saturday in the season finale for both teams.
Box Score
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College men's basketball team played solid defense all night, but a 35-16 advantage in points scored at the free-throw line lifted Grinnell College to a 110-94 win over the Blueboys on Saturday. IC ends the season at 8-15 (5-13 Midwest Conference). Grinnell closes at 16-7 overall, but due to an ineligible player used during the season, the Pioneers officially go into the books with a 9-9 record in the MWC.
A hot start put Illinois College into a hole it could never dig itself out of. Grinnell started out with the first seven points of the game in the opening minute and never trailed.
Max Stutsman quickly scored after a Grinnell free throw on an assist from
Tim Schappaugh, and he and
Payton Dugan combined for the first 10 IC points, but the Pioneers kept rolling on the offensive end and grew their lead to 22 points within the opening nine minutes of the game.
The Blueboys brought it back to a nine-point game at 50-41 on a pair of
Tim Parks free throws with three minutes left in the first half, but Grinnell took a 63-45 lead into the break.
Illinois College started the second half on a 7-0 run of its own and eventually pulled to within five points at 69-64 on a
Mitchell Patterson layup with just over 14 minutes remaining. That was answered on the other end by a Ky-Sean Johnson three-pointer and Grinnell soon had its lead back to double-digits. In the closing minutes of the game, the closest IC would get was at 90-83 after another Patterson bucket, but Grinnell repeatedly extended its lead at the line down the stretch.
In his final collegiate game, Patterson led the Blueboys with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Max Stutsman added 18 points, while Dugan had 15 points and Parks had 12.
Mason Speer ended with eight points and 10 assists. Julian Marx scored a game-high 29 points for Grinnell.
