Davenport, IA - Park the bus. Wait for a few minutes. Get back on. That's practically how the last 48 hours have played out for ICC men's basketball (7-3), as the Cougars hit the road to take on the JV team from Saint Ambrose University in the team's second consecutive day with a road game. The Cougars propelled themselves to a sizable early lead and ultimately never trailed, on route to a 75-50 victory over the Bees, surpassing their seven-point win over Saint Ambrose JV from a few weeks prior at Ramsey Gym.
Frankly, the game did not start with the smoothest offensive tempo, with neither team quite able to find the bottom of the net. Alas, it would be ICC that found that elusive rhythm first, getting out to a 12-2 lead. On top of building momentum on the offensive side of the ball, the Cougar defense held the JV Bees to 4-32 shooting in the opening 20 minutes, cruising to a 36-18 lead at the halftime break.
Saint Ambrose JV made their adjustments in the locker room and shot at a better clip, going 15-26 in the second half, including nine three-pointers. The recent run of hot shooting for ICC continued, with the Cougars going 32-59 (54%) in the second half.
The JV Bees worked the game all the way down to a 36-49 ICC lead at the midway point of the second half, but the Cougar defense stepped up again, this time forcing turnovers and misses to get the lead back up to 19 (58-39). Coach Tony Wysinger's crew was able to maintain that final stretch and pull away to the final 25-point margin, which would be the game's largest lead.
A combination of ball distribution and limited mistakes were back for the Cougars, with the team dishing out 20 assists and only turning it over eight times.
STAT LEADERS
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 16 points, 11 rebounds
Ayden Grant | 11 points, 5 rebounds
Damuzha Moore | 10 points
Azarion Richardson | 9 points, 4 assists
Emaryon Byrd | 7 points, 4 assists
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Rend Lake Warriors (3-5)
at Waugh Gym - Ina, Illinois
Wednesday, December 13th - 6:00 PM
Watch Live (YouTube)
*Note: Last game of the 2023 calendar year for MBB
