East Peoria, Ill. - The Illinois Central College men's basketball team (7-11, 0-4) battled for 40 minutes against high-quality opposition in Spoon River, a team that had beaten #6 South Suburban earlier in the season. The Cougars would fall just short of the Snappers in an 82-78 loss on Saturday afternoon in Region 24 and MWAC action at Ramsey Gym. The Cougars placed four players in double figures as Lacolis Ashby Jr. (16 points), Amariyae Wilson (15 points), Keaundre Cooper (14 points), and Courtland Soll (14 points), but it was ultimately not enough. 

The Snappers controlled the first half, taking a 23-11 lead with 10:44 to play.  ICC whittled away the lead as Ashby Jr. scored in the paint to pull the Cougars to within 26-21 and then Keaundre Cooper's three-pointer and Courtland Soll's jumper (assists Wilson) drew ICC to within 31-28 with just under five minutes until the half. 

SRC responded to push their lead back out to 35-29 but Cooper scored the final six points for ICC, including a steal and emphatic dunk just before the halftime buzzer as the Cougars were down 38-35 at the break.

An Ashby Jr. dunk tied things up at 39-all (assist Wilson) but the Snappers grabbed the lead back at 49-44 but Kyle Belgrave II scored the next five points to get the Cougars back even at 49-all. The teams traded scores for the next several minutes but neither team could take control.  ICC held their last lead at 64-63 with 6:39 until Spoon slowly got the upper hand, going up 68-65 with 5:04 left.  

The Snappers took a 77-69 lead with 1:10 to play but the Cougars kept at it, closing to 78-76 with 9.4 seconds before running out of time.

STATISTICAL LEADERS
Lacolis Ashby Jr. | 16 points, 5 rebounds
Amariyae Wilson | 15 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds
Keaundre Cooper | 14 points, 5 rebounds
Courtland Soll | 14 points, 4 assists

Next up:
Host Parkland (13-6) on Wednesday, February 1 at 7:30 
Livestream:  ICC Athletics YouTube