JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team canned 15 three-pointers – seven from
Riley Mehrens – as the Blueboys built a gigantic halftime lead on Lawrence University and held off a slight second-half charge from the Vikings to end the 2018-19 season on a high note, defeating LU by a score of 76-60. IC ends the year at 9-16 (7-11 Midwest Conference).
The growth of this Illinois College squad can be seen simply by looking at the scores of the two matchups against Lawrence. On Nov. 30, the Vikings blew out the Blueboys by a score of 83-45. On Saturday, IC returned the favor as the Blueboys came out on fire from three-point range, knocking in 10 first-half three-pointers to take a commanding lead at the break.
Sean McDonald scored the opening bucket of the game from the paint. That was followed by the next 21 Illinois College points coming from behind the arc as the Blueboys build a 23-11 lead and forced a timeout from the Vikings.
The stoppage in action did little to slow down Illinois College. With the score 39-20, the Blueboys scored the last eight points of the half on a pair of threes from Mehrens and a
Michael Adams layup to make it 47-20 at the intermission.
Lawrence showed life early in the second half, coming out on an 8-0 run and holding the Blueboys scoreless for more than four minutes before Mehrens hit another three-pointer to get IC rolling again. The Vikings drew within 17 points at 50-33, but soon the lead was back up to 27 when
Mason Speer jumped a passing lane and took it the length of the court for a breakaway dunk. Though LU was able to cut into the lead late, the Blueboys were never threatened and were able to give all five seniors a curtain call late in the contest.
Mehrens ended the day with 23 points, hitting 7-of-12 from three-point range. Speer had 11 points and five assists in his final game for Illinois College. Also playing their last games for IC,
Tim Parks had seven points and McDonald had six rebounds and five assists.
