East Peoria, Ill. - Akin to the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas", it's the night before postseason basketball for the Illinois Central College men's basketball team (18-11), as they await an opportunity to host a postseason game, taking on the Spoon River Snappers (7-21) in the quarterfinal round of the Region 24 Tournament on Wednesday at 6PM.
The Cougars have enjoyed a successful season to this point, having waded through a tough midsection of the schedule, and are now powering their way to playing their best basketball at the most important time of the year. In the last couple weeks alone, the Cougars have put up 110 points at Lewis & Clark, avenged an earlier loss to Spoon River (81-69 final) and picked up a big Top-10 win over #9 Parkland at Ramsey Gym last Wednesday by a 78-74 final score. The home game is something ICC has had in their sights from the get-go, with head coach Tony Wysinger saying it "means we accomplished one of our goals for the season".
They've accomplished that goal by way of an offense that averages 72.4 points per game, paced down the home stretch by MWAC Player of the Year
Tony Mabon Jr. (17.2 ppg),
LaColis Ashby Jr. (13.4 ppg), and
Azarion Richardson (11.4 ppg).
Mabon's Player of the Year honor is something that means a lot to Coach Wysinger and the team.
"He has put a lot of work in the last two years, including practicing with our women's team last year (2022-2023 season). Plenty of effort and energy has been expended for this award," Wysinger exclaimed.
Expect the Cougars to crash the boards, with ICC out-rebounding its opponents on a season average of 36.8 to 27.8. That effort is paced by Ashby's 7.7 rebounds and
Payton Cook's 4.0 rebounds per contest.
As is the case with any game this time of year, anything can happen. This series, ICC and Spoon River, just happens to be a perfect example. See, the Snappers beat the Cougars on a buzzer-beater in Canton back on January 27th, snuffing a game that saw ICC turn in a 53.3% effort in field goal shooting, not to mention having made nine three-pointers in that loss. It's a result that Coach Wysinger says makes his team know that "nothing will be taken for granted, especially in the region playoffs".
The winner of Wednesday's game between ICC and Spoon River advances to Saturday's Region Semifinal round at Rend Lake College in Ina, IL. Details are below.
GAME INFORMATION
2024 Region 24 Tournament Quarterfinal
vs. #7 Spoon River Snappers (7-21)
Wednesday, March 6th - 6:00 PM
Ramsey Gym - East Peoria, Ill.
Watch Live (YouTube)
2024 REGION 24 MEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinal Round (Wednesday, March 6th)
@ Campus Sites
G1 | #8 Lewis & Clark @ #1 Parkland | 7:30 PM
G2 | #5 Lincoln Land @ #4 Danville Area | 7:00 PM
G3 | #7 Spoon River @ #2 Illinois Central | 6:00 PM
G4 | #6 Rend Lake @ #3 John Wood | 7:30 PM
Semifinal Round (Saturday, March 9th)
@ Waugh Gym - Rend Lake CC - Ina, IL
G5 | Winner G1 vs. Winner G2 | 1:00 PM
G6 | Winner G3 vs. Winner G4 | 3:00 PM
Championship Game (Sunday, March 10th)
@ Waugh Gym - Rend Lake CC - Ina, IL
G7 | Winner G5 vs. Winner G6 | 2:00 PM
