JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team hung close with #7 Washington University in St. Louis throughout the game on Sunday before falling by a score of 85-76 to the Bears. The loss puts the Blueboys at 1-1 heading into next weekend's Bill Merris Tournament.
Illinois College never led in the contest, but that didn't mean that Wash U had it easy. A three-pointer by Matt Nester six minutes into the game gave the Bears an 18-10 lead, but the Blueboys came back by working the ball inside to
Trae Robinson III and
Mikey Adams. From there, the three-ball opened up and both
Riley Mehrens and
TJ Ervin connected from long-range. A three from Ervin knotted the score at 26-26 with just over five minutes left until halftime.
Two minutes later, the score would be tied again when
Justin Kellogg called glass on a three-pointer to make it 29-29. A strong close to the first half allowed the Bears to head to the locker room with a 38-33 edge.
Wash U nailed a triple out of the break and twice led by eight points in the opening minute of the second half. Undeterred, Illinois College came back with a 7-0 run on a triple from
Jake Mazrimas and back-to-back layups from Robinson III. After a 7-0 run from Wash U opened the game back up to eight at 52-44,
Riley Mehrens canned four free throws and Robinson III and
Tre Rogers both scored as part of an 8-0 run that leveled the contest at 52-52 with 14 minutes remaining.
Eventually the Blueboys were unable to answer all of Wash U's runs. After tying the score at 52 apiece, the Bears scored nine unanswered before
Deandre Enoch could end the IC drought. The lead peaked at 15, but the Blueboys had one last push in them, cutting it to 74-67 on a Mazrimas three with just under four minutes to play. Despite full-court pressure from Illinois College, that would be as close as the Blueboys would get the rest of the way.
Jack Nolan and Justin Hardy led all scorers for Wash U with 23 points each. Robinson III, Mehrens and Rogers all ended with 13 points in the game for Illinois College. Mazrimas added 12 and had three blocks for the second game in a row.
On Friday night, Illinois College hosts Lincoln Christian University at 7:30 p.m. in the second of two semifinals in the Merris Tournament. The winner of that game will play the winner of Carroll University and Central College for the championship on Saturday. Action on Friday evening begins at 5:30 p.m. and the doubleheader on Saturday starts at 2 p.m. with the third-place game.
