JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team did everything but go home with the W on Tuesday night, falling to Monmouth College, 90-87, in overtime. The Fighting Scots overcame a six-point deficit in the final 28 seconds of regulation, hitting a three-pointer as time expired to send the game to an extra session. From there, they outscored the Blueboys by an 11-5 margin in the final 90 seconds after going down by three. IC falls to 4-12 (2-7 Midwest Conference) with the loss.
Illinois College took a quick 5-0 lead in the first minute of the contest off of two free throws from
TJ Ervin and a trey from
Hunter Ottensmeier. Monmouth stormed back with a 9-0 run and eventually led by as many as 11, 24-13, before a four-point play from
Jaxson Dian sparked the Blueboys on an 8-0 run. The IC deficit at halftime was just three, 31-28.
An 8-0 run shortly after the break gave Illinois College the lead back at 36-33 on a
Jake Mazrimas three-pointer. The lead would swing back and forth much of the second half until another Mazrimas triple broke a 64-64 deadlock with less than three minutes to go. A Mazrimas three-point play with just over a minute to go made it 72-68 and
Tre Rogers canned a pair of free throws with 28 seconds left after a Monmouth turnover to increase the lead to 74-68.
The Fighting Scots clawed back into it with a pair of short jumpers sandwiching one of two from the line from Rogers, leaving the score at 75-72. The Blueboys were then whistled for an offensive foul trying to inbound against Monmouth's full-court press. On the ensuing possession, Dee Hyler clanked a three-pointer off the back of the rim, but the rebound was tipped out to Trey Swearingen who swished a shot as time expired.
Illinois College wouldn't score for more than two minutes as overtime began, by which time Monmouth had raced out to a 79-75 lead. The Blueboys roared back with a 7-0 burst however, with
Mikey Adams registering the first points of OT before Rogers notched five straight to put IC on top, 82-79, with 1:36 to play. Things fell apart after that though. The Fighting Scots scored nine straight points – all from the foul line – and a comeback attempt from the Blueboys came up short as the team couldn't get off a good look at a desperation heave as time expired.
Rogers led all scorers in the game with 22 on the night. Dian had 15 and Mazrimas had another double-double, his sixth of the season, with 14 points and 12 boards.
Illinois College begins a four-game road trip this weekend with a trip to Mount Vernon, Iowa, facing Cornell College on Saturday at 3 p.m.
