Ina, Ill. - It was round three for the Illinois Central College men's basketball team (19-12), as the Cougars had made the trek southward to Rend Lake College to take on the John Wood Blazers (19-12) in the Semifinal Round of the Region 24 Tournament. After the Cougars had the lead at halftime, the lead would ultimately slip away, with the Blazers surging to the tune of 40-19 in the second half and thus, a 69-51 victory over ICC and the closing of the book on the Cougars' 2023-2024 season. 

Isaiah Donnell swished a long-distance three to give ICC a 15-10 lead at the 13:52 mark of the opening half. Add Amariyae Wilson firing a near three-quarter court pass to LaColis Ashby Jr. on the fast break and it was 17-10. A game of runs would present itself, with the Cougars going right back to work offensively, using an Ashby elbow jumper to go back up seven at 24-17. That lead would again get back down within a possession, but again go back up to six points (30-24) on a long two-pointer from Wilson. One final time for the half, John Wood cut the game back down to a possession, out-scoring ICC 5-3 the rest of the half to put it at a 33-29 Cougar lead heading into the locker rooms. 

The Blazers made their adjustments. Not only would they hold ICC to 22% shooting in the second half (7-32), but were taking care of business with their own offense, taking a lead at 34-33 (5-0 run), and come to find out, never looking back. Meanwhile, the Cougars were able to get a bucket on a Payton Cook rebound + putback, but that would be it for the half's first nine minutes or so, with John Wood powering ahead on a 10-2 run, and after taking a 46-36 lead (the game's first of 10+ points), it forced coach Tony Wysinger to call timeout to stop the momentum at least for the time being. Unfortunately for ICC, the Blazers were not phased by the timeout and continued to roll. John Wood's lead would swell to as much as 20 points. The closest the Cougars got was 13 points (64-51 with 1:25 left) when Donnell had a tough finish in the lane for a bucket. ICC did their best to press the Blazers into a turnover or two, but the press was broken and the necessary late-game fouling began, and John Wood went on one last 5-0 run to cap the game's scoring. 

COUGAR STATISTICS
Isaiah Donnell | 15 points, 8 rebounds
LaColis Ashby Jr. | 12 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists
Payton Cook | 10 points, 5 rebounds
Tony Mabon Jr. | 5 points, 5 rebounds
Amariyae Wilson | 4 points, 3 assists