JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – With a road trip to Midwest Conference leader St. Norbert College just on the horizon, the Illinois College men's basketball team did a great job of maintaining its focus and taking care of business on Thursday night against Knox College. The Blueboys dominated in every facet of the contest and at one point in the second half held a lead of 46 points before the final horn sounded on a 96-60 IC victory. The win improves the Blueboys to 6-14 (4-9 MWC).
The Illinois College win would eventually turn into a blowout, but it took some time to get rolling.
Kane Wildermuth scored on IC's opening possession of the night, but Knox eventually tied the score at 2-2 as the Blueboys went more than three minutes without scoring. With the game still knotted at 4-4,
Isaac Collins came off the bench and hit a triple from way downtown to ignite an 11-2 run that began to give IC some breathing room. With the bench accounting for an amazing 39 of the team's 50 points in the first 20 minutes, Illinois College went to the break with a 50-23 edge.
The Blueboy defense stayed locked in during the second half. Knox went nearly three minutes before managing to score, but it wasn't until late in the contest that the Prairie Fire began to have any luck on the offensive end of the floor. Illinois College, on the other hand, had its way, especially down low. The Blueboys scored 48 of their 96 points in the contest in the paint, feeding their big men at will and seeing the pay-off from it. The lead peaked at 92-46 before Knox began to cut into it in the final minutes of the game.
Illinois College had contributions up and down the lineup.
Michael Adams was 6-for-6 from the floor off the bench and ended with a game-high 14 points.
Trae Robinson III,
Trevor Otten and
Mason Speer all added 12 as well. As a team, the Blueboys shot better than 55 percent from the floor while the Prairie Fire were held below 36 percent.
IC will face a big road test on Feb. 2, traveling north to face MWC leader St. Norbert. The game in De Pere, Wis. begins at 3 p.m.
