West Burlington, IA - After a one-day delay due to the snowy weather, the Illinois Central College Men's Basketball team (8-16) made the trek northwest to Loren Walker Arena to take on the Blackhawks from Southeastern Iowa (17-7), a program once receiving votes in the Division-I national poll. The fans got their money's worth, and the Cougars played well, but a back-and-forth battle ultimately went in favor of the Blackhawks in overtime, 84-78. 

FIRST HALF RECAP
Other than trailing 2-0, ICC could not have started the game much better. A three from Isaiah Payne, and-one from Idris Thomas, pull-up jumper from Jaylen Brown, and another Payne three made up a 10-0 run to take a 10-2 lead at the 14:14 mark of the opening half. 

The Blackhawks would get the game within a 17-16 margin, and had possession, but a steal and eventually a bucket from Rickey Woods III by way of a pull-up jumper prevented a Southeastern Iowa lead for the interim. 

Jaylen Brown would take over from there, hitting a reverse lay-up against the baseline and a wide open three from the right wing, with the latter forcing a Blackhawk timeout and giving ICC a 28-18 lead with 6:04 until the break. 

Anthony Allison Jr. would crash the boards and get a tip-in bucket to go up 30-18 at the 4:05 mark, but from there, the hosts went on a run. To be exact, it was at a 13-2 clip. Now, the Cougars had played well enough in the opening 20 minutes, that they would still have the lead at halftime (32-31) despite the Southeastern Iowa run.

SECOND HALF RECAP
The Blackhawks extended their run to 12-0 to take their first lead since 2-0 at 33-32 with 19:20 left in regulation. 

Yet the Cougars would work the lead back up to five points (38-33) on a mid-range jumper from Cooper Knoll and free throw from Payton Cook. Cook also got a lay-in to go off a deep-ball pass to go ahead 42-35 with 16:05 left. 

From some time, the margin remained at five points, as the two teams traded baskets. The Cougars worked it back up to six on a jumper from Cook and a baseline spinner from Thomas. 

Azarion Richardson went on a personal run, knocking down a pair of open treys to get the lead to 60-51 with 7:31 left. 

Slowly but surely, it was at this point that the Blackhawks began to sneak their way back into a very close margin. After Richardson fought through contact for a layup and a 64-58 lead, Southeastern Iowa went on a miniature 4-0 run to cut it to 64-62.

Jaylen Brown hit a three to go up 67-62, and with just 1:54 left, it seemed as if ICC may just get this done. Alas, another Blackhawk run was in the cards, 5-0 this time, to tie it with 47 seconds left. 

The Cougars called timeout with five seconds to go, but a desperation three did not fall, and there would be free basketball on the way with the score at 67-67. 

OVERTIME RECAP
As most overtimes are, this one was back and forth as well. A three from Brown and a spinner from Woods both gave ICC separate one-point leads within the first 90 seconds, the latter being 72-71 with 3:20 left. 

This was a breaking point for the Blackhawks. A free throw made it 74-72 Southeastern Iowa. Baseline floater; 76-62 - 2:05 left. Perhaps the biggest dagger, ultimately, was a steal and a wide open breakaway dunk to give the hosts a 78-72 advantage with just 109 seconds left in the extra period. 

Woods crashed for an offensive rebound and putback, plus Richardson hit a tough contested three to pull within 81-78 with just 12.1 left in overtime. 

Unfortunately, that meant ICC had to play the fouling game the rest of the way, and Southeastern Iowa would hang on by the aforementioned six-point margin. 

COUGAR STATISTICS
To Be Added Later

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Region 24 Game
@ Rend Lake Warriors (12-11 Overall, 6-5 Region 24)
Monday, February 17th - 6:00 PM CST Tipoff
at Waugh Gymnasium - Ina, Illinois
Watch Live (HUDL-TV)