Ina, Ill. - On Wednesday night, the ICC men's basketball team (9-2) made the trek southward to Rend Lake College's Waugh Gym to continue their Region 24 slate by battling the Warriors. It was certainly a game with many separate runs of momentum, but the Cougars prevailed, making the last run, and evading a missed buzzer-beater by the Warriors that would have won the game, giving ICC a 65-64 victory on the road, the Cougars' first in Ina since 2012, which also was their last sweep of the Warriors. 

The Cougars got off to a positive start, getting ahead as much as 12-7 at the 12:30 mark of the opening half. Rend Lake would counter with their first charge of the game, pulling ahead 13-12 on a three-pointer. 

Speaking of three-point shooting, ICC turned to the hot hand of Azarion Richardson, who went on a quality stretch from behind the arc to give the Cougars a small lead, which turned into a back-and-forth affair. From there, ICC made a late push at it before heading to the halftime locker room with a 34-28 lead. 

After the break, the tone of the game, however, stayed the same. The Cougars maintained a 5-7 point lead, while Rend Lake would make some shots here and there to maintain that point spread. That was, until the Warriors got hot from three around the 11:40 mark of the second half, so much so that they'd eventually take a 44-43 lead. 

ICC got into foul trouble, putting Rend Lake in the bonus with still 6:18 to go, but were able to prevent it from getting to the fouling out of any players. Emaryon Byrd went on a hot stretch from the 5:37 mark to the 4:35 mark, with those two treys respectively tying the game at 57-57 and giving ICC a 60-57 lead. 

The aforementioned 'final push' came when LaColis Ashby Jr. found Amariyae Wilson for a bucket and a 62-60 lead with 3:16 left. Now, the Cougars would expand into a slightly more comfortable spot when Ayden Grant knocked in a long two-pointer (assist Richardson) for a 64-60 lead with 1:22 to go. Come to find out, those 64 points would not be enough. 

Rend Lake hit a three-pointer with 1:03 to go and pull within 64-63 of ICC. What became the game-winning point came when Byrd went 1-2 at the free throw line, missing the first, but making the second to go ahead 65-63 with 43.4 seconds to go. 

The Warriors made a free throw of their own at the 24.9 mark to get to a 65-64 ICC score. After making the first, the second was missed, and the Cougars brought in the rebound, and thus, were intentionally fouled to force a clock stoppage. With ICC in the 1-and-bonus, the free throw was missed. Rend Lake called time with 17.2 ticks left. 

The Warriors were able to get it up court, got met by a powerful block from Ashby, plus a Byrd rebound. Alas, Rend Lake collapsed in to force a jump ball, of which the possession arrow was in their favor. 

6.8 seconds. Inbounding from the near baseline, the Warriors were able to get an off-balance, but still quality look just inside the three-point arc, but Byrd had it contested, and it fell wide right, securing ICC's ninth win of the season and the Cougars' best pre-Christmas record since the 2018-2019 campaign, when they were (11-3) in the front half of their schedule. 

STATISTICAL LEADERS
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 18 points, 8-12 FGs, 6 reb, 5 blk, 1 ast, 1 stl
Emaryon Byrd | 16 points, 4-6 3's, 8 reb, 3 ast, 1 stl
Azarion Richardson | 11 points, 3-5 3's, 1 ast, 1 stl
Isaiah Donnell | 3 points, 7 ast, 3 reb
Amariyae Wilson | 4 points, 5 ast, 3 reb

TEAM STATS
25-52 FGs (48%), 8-21 3's (38%), 7-15 FTs (47%), 29 reb, 18 ast, 5 stl, 6 blk

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
vs. Ancilla Chargers (6-5)
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024 - 6:00 PM
@ Ramsey Gym - East Peoria, Ill. 
Watch Live (YouTube)