By: A 42-20 edge on the glass was one of the determining factors as the Buccaneers pulled away for the victory.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Visiting Beloit College enjoyed a huge edge on the boards and used that to pull away from Illinois College for an 82-58 win on Wednesday night in Sherman Gymnasium. The Blueboys dropped their sixth straight, falling to 7-15 (2-13 Midwest Conference). Beloit improved to 4-18 (3-12 MWC) with the win.
Illinois College opened the game with layups by
Sean McDonald and
Mason Speer for a 4-0 lead after two minutes. Over the next nine minutes, Beloit would answer back with a 21-4 run to open up a 21-8 advantage.
The play of
David Bauer kept the Blueboys in it in the first half. The senior accounted for 11 straight Illinois College points and his last of three three-pointers made it a 29-19 game with less than five minutes until the break.
Riley Dugan then supplied the Blueboys with back-to-back layups to make it 29-23 before the Buccaneers scored the last four points of the half to take a 33-23 lead at the break.
Andrew Walters started the second half hot for Beloit, but a three from
Sean McDonald and layups from Dugan and
Max Stutsman helped Illinois College weather the storm and pull within six at 39-33 with 15 minutes to play.
Cody Hildebrand then came off the bench and handled the scoring load for a few minutes to keep the deficit in single digits.
The buckets began to dry up for IC as the clock ticked below 12 minutes and Beloit went on a run over the next three minutes to extend its lead over 20 points. The last time the Blueboys got the lead under 20 points came on a short jumper from Stutsman to make it 62-43. Highlighting one of the deciding factors of the game, Beloit got two offensive rebounds on the next possession before converting a layup and the Buccaneers had no trouble closing out the game down the stretch.
Bauer and Speer led Illinois College with 13 points apiece on the night. Hildebrand had eight points, all in the second half.
Illinois College travels to Ripon College on Feb. 10, facing the Red Hawks at 1 p.m.
