JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team picked up its first victory of the season on Friday night in their first game of the 20th Bill Merris Classic, defeating Principia College, 94-63. The Blueboys held the Panthers to under 33 percent from the field in the game and pulled away before halftime after a slow start to the game. The Blueboys improve to 1-2 on the season.
Nearly three minutes went by before the scoring opened on a pair of free throws from Principia's Micah Paulson. The lead extended to 4-0 seconds later before a layup from
Michael Adams got the Blueboys on the board. A
Mason Speer jumper tied the game, but Brennan Paulson answered with a three-pointer to make it 7-4 for the Panthers after five minutes.
Down on the other end, two free throws from Speer got the Blueboys within one and started an 11-0 run that gave Illinois College the lead for good.
Trae Robinson III made a layup for IC's first lead and
Riley Mehrens extended it with his first three-ball of the contest. After two straight buckets from Robinson III, the margin was 15-7.
Illinois College began to heat up from beyond the arc as the half went along and doubled up Principia at 26-13 after a three from
Tim Parks and a Speer jumper. A tip-in from Speer as the half came to a close gave the Blueboys a 44-26 lead at the break.
Principia never got closer than 17 in the second half, but kept the game in touching distance until midway through, when foul trouble began to mount for the Panthers and Illinois College began to once again heat up from long range. The Blueboys hit eight three-pointers in the second half, including three straight at one point from Mehrens and
Sean McDonald as IC built its largest lead at 87-52. Illinois College was able to pull its starters and work in many of its younger players down the closing stretch as they eased to the 31-point victory.
Mehrens ended with a team-high 21 points on the night, leading five players in double-figures for IC. Speer had 17, Robinson III ended with 15 and both Parks and
Trevor Otten added 10. Robinson III led the Blueboys with nine rebounds in the game and Speer handed out a game-high nine assists.
Illinois College concludes the Bill Merris Classic tomorrow with a 6 p.m. game against Blackburn College. The Beavers lost on Friday to DePauw University, 92-88.
