JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team splashed 12 three-pointers on the night to fight back and earn an 80-77 victory over Cornell College. The 12 triples were the most that IC has hit in a game since its earlier matchup with Cornell back on Dec. 8. The Blueboys up their record to 7-15 (5-10 Midwest Conference) and pull ahead of the Rams and Beloit College in the MWC standings.
Cornell led early on thanks to the play of Cooper Kabela. The big man for the Rams scored 18 of the first 29 in the game for the visitors. Despite his prowess on the offensive end, the Blueboys hung right with the Rams for most of the first half and consecutive three-pointers from
Riley Mehrens put the Blueboys out in front at 37-33. After a timeout from Cornell, the Rams closed the half strong and went to the break with a 44-40 lead behind 22 from Kabela.
Kabela continued to be a force early on in the second half and his play inside helped Cornell take its largest lead of the night, 57-51, with 13:29 remaining. Illinois College muscled its way back into the game scoring its next six field goals in the paint and taking a 64-63 lead on a
Mason Speer layup.
Held scoreless in the first half,
Tim Parks was all over in the second half. With the game tied at 69-69, Parks tipped in his own miss to put the Blueboys on top. After the IC defense held firm and coerced Kabela into a miss, Parks came down and swished a three to make it 74-69, necessitating a timeout from the Cornell bench with just over five minutes left.
Another three-pointer from Parks gave the Blueboys their largest lead of the night, 78-71, with 3:32 to go. The game was far from over though, as Cornell rallied to within a point with a 6-0 run over the next three minutes. With the score 78-77, Marcus Quirk missed what would have been a go-ahead three-pointer with 36 seconds left. On the other end,
Sean McDonald was fouled in the paint and he canned both free throws to extend the Illinois College lead to three. On Cornell's last possession, IC played spectacular defense, knocking the ball away and forcing the Rams into a desperation shot from near half-court that had no real chance of going in.
After setting the school's single-season record for three-pointers made in his last game, Mehrens hit four more on his way to a team-high 14 points. Speer and
Kane Wildermuth each had 13 points. Off the bench,
Trevor Otten had 12 points and Parks added 11. The Blueboys survived despite 33 points from Kabela.
Illinois College jumps back into action on Feb. 9 with a road trip to Lake Forest College. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.
