By: Isaac Collins made it rain threes on Saturday afternoon, scoring a game-high 31 points in a 120-117 win for the Blueboys.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - In a game that was going very smoothly for Illinois College right up until it suddenly wasn't, the Blueboys managed to hold off a late charge from Grinnell College and come away with a 120-117 win over the Pioneers to close the book on
Mike Worrell's long tenure as head coach of the program.
In the first half, Illinois College practically set fire to the nets, shooting 70 percent from the field and opening up a 72-57 lead on Grinnell.
Isaac Collins came off the bench and had 17 points in opening half, hitting five three-pointers. He was aided by 13 points off the bench from
Sean McDonald.
Mason Speer had nine points and nine assists all before the first half came to a close.
The Blueboys opened up a 21-point lead, their largest of the game, early in the second half and still maintained a 20-point edge with under 12 minutes to play. Grinnell suddenly came to life, cutting the deficit to single digits at 105-96 with six minutes to play and then getting within four points with three minutes left.
Illinois College fought to maintain its edge and a dunk by
Riley Dugan made it 117-109 with just 80 seconds left in the game. The Pioneers quickly scored five in a row, with a Ky-Sean Johnson three-pointer making it 117-114 with 41 seconds to go. After Dugan made one out of two at the line, Sean Cullinane buried a three with 20 seconds left to trim IC's lead all the way down to a single point at 118-117.
After Grinnell was forced to foul, McDonald hit two clutch free throws with 16 seconds left to make it 120-117. On the last possession of the game, the Illinois College defense locked down on all of Grinnell's shooters and a Vinny Curta desperation three at the buzzer was well short.
Collins ended with a game-high and career-high 31 points, knocking down a school-record nine three-pointers in the contest. McDonald added 22 and
Max Stutsman had 16. In addition to Stutsman, fellow seniors
Cody Hildebrand,
David Bauer and
Aaron Edwards had 11, nine and four, respectively. Curta, the nation's leading scorer at nearly 34 points per game, was held to 23.
Illinois College closes its season at 8-17 (3-15 Midwest Conference). The win was the 210th of Worrell's career.
