SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Illinois College men's basketball team stopped Southwestern University, 58-52, on the final day of the Leslie Robinson Holiday Classic inside the Bell Center on Saturday afternoon.
The victory moved IC to 7-4 overall while Southwestern dropped to 0-10.
IC 58 Southwestern 52
The opening half saw the teams trade leads early before Southwestern used a 10-0 spurt to take the biggest lead of the period at 19-9 with 6:27 left. The Blueboys rallied and got within one at 20-19 with 2:07 remaining but the Pirates were able to take a 25-22 lead into the break.
Southwestern held the lead for nearly the first four minutes of the second half before IC broke ahead, 31-30, on a 3pt. field goal by
Javonte McKenzie with 16:03 left. The Pirates jumped back in front and held a 41-39 advantage with 8:53 to go before the Blueboys made their game-winning run.
A 3pt. field goal by
Buzz Ritzel, followed by a three from
Nathan Bobikiewicz and an
Austin Robinson layup gave IC a 50-42 lead with 5:27 left, a lead they would never relinquish. IC grew the spread to as much as 12 before cruising home for the victory.
Ritzel and McKenzie each scored 12 points to lead IC. Ritzel and Robinson led IC with six rebounds each while Robinson added 11 points. Bobikiewicz chipped in with a career-high 10 points.
Blue Notes
Ritzel joined the 1,000-point club at IC yesterday and now has 1,017 career points…
Josh Harris sits at 968 in his quest to join Ritzel in the 1,000-point club… the Blueboys have now won 39 of their last 48 games (39-9) and 56 of the past 65 (56-9). IC is also 22-3 in its last 25 non-conference games.
Up Next
IC will take a break for the Christmas holiday before returning to action on December 30th for the final non-conference game of the season when it visits Benedictine in Lisle, Ill. Tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.
