East Peoria, Ill. - The Illinois Central College men's basketball team (18-10 Overall, 9-4 Region 24, 6-4 MWAC) took on the #9-ranked Parkland Cobras (25-4 Overall, 11-3 Region 24, 9-3 MWAC) at Ramsey Gym on Wednesday evening. After the Cougars started on fire out of the gates, it would become a game of fending off the Cobras, which eventually, ICC would do, taking down Parkland by a 78-74 final score. 

The Cougars were able to power ahead to the tune of a 9-1 run, capped by an Amariyae Wilson pull-up jumper at the 17:40 mark. ICC's defense was also ready to play, holding the 9-1 run for nearly another two minutes, and holding the Cobras without a field goal until the 15:06 mark of the first half. Backing away after the release, Azarion Richardson knocked down a trey for the game's first 10-point lead at 18-8. From there, though, Parkland slowly chipped their way back into the game. A Cougar offensive foul was their 10th of the half with still 7:13 to play. The Cobras would go down and hit a three of their own to take their first lead at 23-22, making it a scoring run of 25-4 from the aforementioned 10-point lead for ICC. Wilson handed the ball of to a driving Isaiah Donnell for a layup and to give the Cougars the lead back at 31-30 with just 2:25 until the break. Another Donnell step-through made it 35-32. Seconds to go with the ball - perhaps to no, or at least limited, surprise, Donnell again hit a shot, this time a fadeaway off a spin move. The last of those shots put the ICC in front 37-32 going into the halftime locker room. 

ICC's offense restarted right where it left off, utilizing a pair of Donnell's free throws to go back up double figures at 47-36.  From there, back and forth the game would go. It wasn't necessarily for a lack of offense, but rather neither team being able to grab more momentum than the opposition, all as the game's margin stayed around 8-12 points. Just as it seemed Parkland was sliding back into the game, within a score even, it was Donnell again who hit a pull-up jumper from the left elbow for a 65-59 lead. While ICC called a timeout after that bucket, the Cobras did go on a miniature run to get within 65-64 with 5:21 left on the clock. So perhaps needless to say, the game was, at the time, far from over. When it came to crunch time, coach Tony Wysinger needed some big-time free throws. As to who those would be tasked to - well, it was Donnell again. He would make it 75-68 with less than 60 ticks left. The dagger of the game came when Wilson found a breaking-away Tony Mabon Jr. for a thunderous slam dunk and a 10-point lead with just 15 seconds left. Parkland wouldn't go down without a fight, scoring the game's last six points, but the Cougars had made the run they needed to defeat the Cobras in a thriller. 

COUGAR STATISTICS
Isaiah Donnell | 20 points, 6 rebounds
Tony Mabon Jr. | 19 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 12 points, 4 rebounds, 4 blocks
Payton Cook | 10 points, 4 rebounds
Amariyae Wilson | 4 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists
Azarion Richardson | 4 points
Damuzha Moore | 4 points
Cameron Weed | 2 points, 4 rebounds
Jeremiah Tate | 2 points
Israel Barnett | 1 point

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ John Wood Blazers (16-12 Overall, 8-5 Region 24, 7-5 MWAC)
Saturday, March 2nd - 3:00 PM
Student Activities Center - Quincy, Ill.
Watch Live (Team1Sports)