Danville, Ill. - 24 hours after the women's teams battled to a three-point final score, it was time for the men's teams of the ICC Cougars (11-4 Overall, 3-0 Region 24, 1-0 MWAC) and Danville Area (8-6 Overall, 1-2 Region 24, 0-1 MWAC) to face off, and much like Saturday's game, they too would come right down to the wire. A fairly low-scoring first half put both teams behind the 8-ball some, but a rejuvenated second half for both squads made for an exciting finish, with Amariyae Wilson knocking down a free throw to set a 58-55 final score in favor of the Cougars. 

Early on, it seemed to be more of a battle of the boards than offenses, with neither team able to find the bottom of the net too frequently. ICC did take a 7-2 lead at one point via a three-point play from LaColis Ashby Jr., but the offenses still appeared a bit stalled.

That being said, the Danville Area offense had been held completely off the scoreboard until the 15:43 mark of the first half (free throws) and without a field goal until 11:51 on the clock. The first bucket can often breed plenty of confidence, and those first few points were just what the Jaguars needed, eventually hitting a trey at the 9:56 mark to make it 9-9 and slamming one in at 9:19 for an 11-9 lead. 

At that point, however, it became more of a back-and-forth game. Azarion Richardson found Ashby Jr. on a tight pass inside for a 19-17 lead with 5:30 to go until the break. Danville Area got at least lukewarm from behind the arc just before half, hitting a few treys to go ahead 31-27 with 1:26 on the clock, also forcing an ICC timeout. The Cougars got one last Richardson free throw before taking a 31-28 deficit into the halftime locker room. 

Offenses were rejuvenated, as mentioned, after some halftime adjustments. Ashby Jr. knocked down a breakaway bucket not even 30 seconds into the second half for a 31-30 Danville lead. 

Despite ICC maintaining offensive pace, it seemed as if the Jaguars were able to snuff out any momentum with an answer of their own. Payton Cook worked through a physical lay-in with 12:30 to go to give ICC what would wind up its largest lead at 47-41. The largest lead was not long-lived, as Danville Area countered with an 8-0 run down to the 6:00 mark for a 49-47 lead. 

Ayden Grant came off the bench and knocked down a couple key shots to keep the Cougars right in it.

The game would ultimately stay within a possession all the way down to the last minute. ICC was called for a charge with 41.9 seconds to go. That gave the Jaguars the ball one last time (with a shot clock, anyway) to go for the win. Their shot would miss, the Cougars would rebound, and at the end, the aforementioned Wilson free throws to set the three-point margin at game's end. 

ICC STATISTICS
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 15 points, 7 rebounds
Azarion Richardson | 11 points
Payton Cook | 8 points, 7 rebounds
Tony Mabon Jr. | 7 points, 4 rebounds
Amariyae Wilson | 6 points, 2 assists
Ayden Grant | 5 points
Isaiah Donnell | 4 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists
Willie Fragher | 2 points, 4 rebounds

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
vs. Lincoln Land Loggers (6-6, 2-0, 0-0)
@ Ramsey Gym - East Peoria, Ill.
Saturday, January 20th - 3:00 PM
Watch Live (YouTube)