East Peoria, IL - The Illinois Central College Men's Basketball team (10-17 Overall, 5-6 Region 24) returned home to Ramsey Gym on Wednesday night to battle with the Danville Area Jaguars (15-10 Overall, 8-5 Region 24) in Region 24 action. The game was close throughout, but the Cougars made just enough free throws down the stretch to fend off a late scoring flurry and secure a 76-74 win.
FIRST HALF RECAP
Idris Thomas got a fast break dunk to pull within 12-10 at the 14:15 mark of the opening half. The Cougars would eventually get their first lead at 13-12 when Jeremiah Tate found a fairly open Azarion Richardson at the right wing for a trey.
A contested corner three from Jaylen Brown put the Cougars back up 18-17, but as was the nature of a strong majority of this game, Danville Area scored on the other end to take the lead back, and Brown got a tip-in to take the Cougar lead back within the span of seconds.
Leading 20-19, a converted and-one by Rickey Woods III would give ICC its first multi-possession lead at 23-19 with 7:05 until the half. Woods then hit a difficult spinner in the lane to expand that largest lead (6).
An offensive rebound and putback from Thomas put the Cougars up 27-21 and forced the Jaguars to call a timeout with 5:25 until the break.
ICC continued to excel at their transition offense in the first half, with a converted and-one from Thomas giving the Cougars their first double figure lead of the game at 32-21 with 3:43 on the clock.
Danville Area, however, would finish the half on quite the run, 11-1 to be exact, to pull within 33-32 with just 1:01 left. RJ Davitz would lay one in to set the halftime score of 35-32.
SECOND HALF RECAP
A miniature 5-0 run out of the halftime locker room gave the Jaguars their first lead (37-35) since 19-18.
A steal and a dunk by Thomas tied it at 41, but the Cougars would not get the lead back until Isaiah Payne hit a baseline fadeaway to go ahead 45-44.
A Thomas fadeaway from the free throw line gave ICC a 53-48 lead with around 10:30 to go. A three from Brown off a screen from Anthony Allison Jr. made it 56-50. Richardson would find Brown on the fast break next trip down - 58-50.
Despite all of that, an 8-0 run by the Jaguars worked it right back to a tied game at 58-58 with 6:30 to go. With ICC ahead 64-62, Danville Area ran up floor and knocked down a three for a 65-64 advantage with 2:45 left.
It would, to a degree, become a free throw game, with Isaiah Payne knocked down a couple to get another multi-possession lead at 69-65, now with 1:30 left.
What seemed as if it was the dagger came when Woods knifed through the lane and converted an and-one to go up 72-67 with 49.2 ticks on the clock.
A Jaguar three put them within two. Brown free throws got it back to two possessions with 34.3 left. Danville Area hit a free throw to make it 74-72 with 30 seconds left. The shot clock was off, so fouling was a must. The Cougars, though, would only make the front end of the charity stripe trip - this was not over yet.
With 17.4 seconds to go, the Jaguars shot a three for the tie but missed, and Brown would draw more free throws on the other end and also go 1-2. 76-72 with 2.8 left.
Danville Area would succeed on a baseball pass play, but it was only a two-pointer. 76-74 with 0.2 seconds left. ICC had the ball, but turned it over off the inbound. The Jaguars were able to slip a shot off before the horn from distance but it hit the rim and fell out to avoid the buzzer-beater.
COUGAR STATISTICS
Idris Thomas | 19 points, 14 rebounds, 4 blocks
Jaylen Brown | 17 points, 2 rebounds
Rickey Woods III | 10 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Isaiah Payne | 8 points, 6 assists, 4 steals
Payton Cook | 7 points, 8 rebounds
Cooper Knoll | 6 points, 6 rebounds
Azarion Richardson | 5 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds
RJ Davitz | 2 points, 3 rebounds
Anthony Allison Jr. | 2 points
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ John Wood Blazers (11-16 Overall, 6-5 Region 24)
Saturday, February 22nd - 3:00 PM
at Student Activities Center - Quincy, IL
Watch Live (YouTube)
