JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College men's basketball team used a balanced offense and a stingy defense to cruise to an 88-36 victory over Principia in the opening round of the Bill Merris Invitational on Friday at Sherman Gymnasium.
The Blueboys will now face Simpson in tomorrow's championship game. The Storm defeated Benedictine, 75-68, in the other first-round match up.
IC 88 Principia 36
The Blueboys put this one out of reach early, racing out to a 23-2 lead with 7:28 to play in the opening half. IC's lead grew to as much as 26 (35-9) with 54 seconds remaining before the Blueboys took a 37-13 lead into halftime.
The second period was all IC as well. The Blueboys increased their lead to as much as 53 points on two occasions, the final lead coming with 3:40 remaining and the lead at 82-29.
All 16 IC players who saw action scored, led by
Isayah Kloster, who had 12 points (he also added a game-high seven rebounds).
Ty Lenhardt, who had six rebounds, added 11 points, and the duo were the only Blueboys in double figures.
Connor Brown also grabbed six boards for IC.
IC held Principia to .245 percent (13-53) shooting from the field, including 0-for-18 from 3pt. range.
Blue Notes
IC has won 67 of the past 80 (67-13) games… four IC freshmen –
Blake Shoufler,
Carson Doran,
Jayden McCoo, and
Chandler Mueller – all saw their first college action and all four scored in the contest.Â
Up Next
The Blueboys will face Simpson in the championship game of the Bill Merris Invitational tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.. Benedictine will face Principia at 1:00 p.m. in the consolation final.
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