East Peoria, IL - The Illinois Central College Men's Basketball team (6-13 Overall, 2-3 Region 24) had a fairly quick turnaround on Wednesday night, hosting the John Wood Blazers (8-13 Overall, 2-4 Region 24). The Blazers got off to a quick start, and although the Cougars were able to whittle the margin down, the visitors never really looked back, on their way to a 89-75 victory.
FIRST HALF RECAP
It was a close battle early, with John Wood leading 6-5 at the first media timeout of the game.
After a 10-2 Blazer run, the Cougars were able to quell some of that momentum thanks to a dunk from Idris Thomas. An and-one from Thomas cut the lead to 19-11.
A trey from Jaylen Brown cut it to seven points at 21-14 at the half's midway point. What followed, though, was another John Wood run, this one 7-2 in nature, and ending on a Blazer dunk to force an ICC timeout in hopes of calming down their offense.
The margin wouldn't grow, but it would stay around the 10-13 point range, that was, until RJ Davitz knocked down a couple free throws to cut it to 32-24 with just over five minutes until the break.
Yet another John Wood run would ensue, as they would out-score the Cougars 16-8 leading into the half, when the Blazers led 48-32. ICC would have an opportunity to come out revitalized, as they would start the second half with possession.
SECOND HALF RECAP
Rickey Woods III was a key factor to the ICC offense chipping away at their deficit. A pair of free throws and a two-pointer on an unconverted and-one (lane violation) pulled the Cougars back within 12 points with 17:00 left.
Payton Cook, the mainstay along the baseline that he's been thus far, knocked down a pair of buckets inside to keep that 12 point margin, now with 14:30 left.
Yet that would be as close as the game got the rest of the way. A streaky Blazers offense, particularly from distance, began to pull away, with the margin getting near the 20 point threshold.
Azarion Richardson knifed through the right flank of the Blazer defense for a lay-in and a 70-54 score with 7:53 left. On the next trip down the floor, Woods hit a difficult spinning reverse layup to cut the margin to 14 points (70-56) with now 7:30 on the clock.
Jeremiah Tate swung a pass around the baseline and found Jaylen Brown for a corner trey and now, it was a 10 point game at 72-62 with 5:15 left.
It was a 10 point game as late as 2:32 to go, but fouls and turnovers kept it in that vicinity the rest of the way. Azarion Richardson knocked down a pair of free throws with 1:57 to go to get the game to 81-70, but the Blazers had made up their ground, with perhaps the dagger coming by way of consecutive three-pointers with a minute to go, giving John Wood an 87-70 advantage.
ICC would get a Cook lay-in and Woods bank-in three to get their 75 points for the evening.
The Cougars have a Top 10 opportunity in front of them next, as they'll head eastward on Interstate-74 to take on their rival Parkland Cobras in the nightcap of a Region 24 doubleheader in Champaign. ICC won the most recent meeting, taking down the then-#9-ranked Cobras 78-74 in Ramsey Gym. Parkland won last year's meeting in Champaign, 78-62.
COUGAR STATISTICS
Rickey Woods III | 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals
Azarion Richardson | 12 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds
Payton Cook | 11 points, 4 rebounds
Jaylen Brown | 10 points
Idris Thomas | 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals
Michael Womer | 5 points, 6 rebounds
RJ Davitz | 5 points
Isaiah Payne | 4 points
Jeremiah Tate | 2 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds
Cody Marcinko | 2 points
Shamar Grant | 2 rebounds
Anthony Allison Jr. | 2 rebounds
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ #7 Parkland Cobras (18-2 Overall, 4-1 Region 24)
At Dodds Athletic Complex - Champaign, Illinois
Saturday, January 25th - 3:00 PM CST Tipoff
Watch Live (HUDL-TV)
