GALESBURG, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team had 30 minutes to remember and 10 minutes to forget on Wednesday night at Knox College. The Blueboys took its largest lead of the game, 62-47, with just over 10 minutes remaining in the second half but the Prairie Fire roared back with a 23-0 run and held on from there for an 88-84 win. IC falls to 5-15 (3-10 Midwest Conference).
One minute into the game, Knox struck first with a three-pointer from Zach Lowe. That was answered by an immediate 13-0 run by Illinois College over the next six minutes. Outside of a brief window in which the Prairie Fire came back to tie the score at 18-18, the Blueboys led comfortably most of the first half. A
Benton Singleton jumper as time expired capped the first 20 minutes and gave IC a 38-30 lead.
The Blueboys pulled away gradually in the first 10 minutes after the break, eventually taking their largest lead of the game on a
Jaxson Dian triple to make it 62-47 with 10:33 left. Back on the other end of the floor, a 23-0 outburst from Knox was started by a four-point play from Ethan Meeker. Though IC used two timeouts, the Prairie Fire just kept rolling until they had a 70-62 lead with 6:06 left.
A short jumper by
Jake Mazrimas finally stopped the run. Knox would later lead by 10 with less than five minutes to play and a comeback effort by the Blueboys came up short in the closing seconds.
Mazrimas led Illinois College with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Dian added 16 and
Riley Mehrens scored 14.
Tre Rogers had 10 points and also added a team-best five assists.
Illinois College plays its first game at Sherman Gymnasium in over two weeks on Saturday afternoon, hosting St. Norbert College in a 1 p.m. contest.
