Canton, IL - The Illinois Central College Men's Basketball team (7-16 Overall, 2-6 Region 24) made the short trek over to Canton to take on the Spoon River Snappers (8-13 Overall, 5-5 Region 24) on Wednesday evening in Region 24 action. Quite similar to the two's meeting in early January, it went down to the wire, but a layup with around 10 seconds to go gave the hosts a 68-65 win over ICC.
FIRST HALF RECAP
A converted three-point play from Cooper Knoll had the Cougars starting off on the right foot, a 7-0 run to be exact, just 2:12 into the game.
Spoon River, though, would catch fire from the field after that, out-scoring ICC 21-2 over the next 8:30 (then leading 21-9), with the Cougar bucket over that stretch coming from Isaiah Payne on a tough runner on the right side of the lane after going 5:51 without scoring. Payne would also knock down a trey a few minutes later to break the Cougars into double figures.
It would turn into a game of runs, as ICC, after snapping the sizzling Spoon River run, went on a 7-0 run of their own, capped by a bucket from Azarion Richardson to force a Snapper timeout, with the margin now trimmed to 21-16 in favor of Spoon River with still 7:51 until the halftime break.
Jaylen Brown would hit a long-distance three to cut it to 28-22 Snappers with 4:21 left. Spoon River would counter yet again, this time getting a lay-in to get and swelling the lead back over double figures at 36-25 just over a minute until half. A made basket from Payton Cook set the halftime score of 36-27 Snappers.
SECOND HALF RECAP
A Spoon River three-pointer gave the opposition another double figure lead at 45-33 with 14 minutes left.
It seemed as if the Cougars just couldn't quite cut that margin back into single digits. Shamar Grant ended any thought of that with a three and pulled within 49-42 with 12:04 left. A floater from Jaylen Brown cut it to 49-44.
After earning a trip to the free throw line by way of a shooting foul, Idris Thomas knocked them both down and just like that, a one possession game, with Spoon River ahead 51-48 with 9:27 left. Now, the Snappers got a bit of momentum again, but again, the Cougars worked it back to a one-possession game, this time at 57-54 after a Rickey Woods III trey with 7:08 to go.
The two would play literally even basketball the rest of the way - 11 to 11.
Michael Womer hit a corner three to get within 60-58 with still 5:30 left. On the next trip down, it would be a thunderous dunk from Thomas that got the Cougars back to a brand new ballgame - it was 60-60 with 5:10 left.
Woods hit a running shot with 2:18 left and ICC would take its first lead at 64-62. Alas, Spoon River would tie it yet again, now at 64 apiece with 1:22 left. ICC fouling would lead to the Snappers knocking down a pair of free throws to go up 66-64 with 49.2 ticks left.
Idris Thomas would draw a shooting foul, and would then split the free throw trip to make it a one-point game at 66-65 Spoon River with 35.5 to go.
Inbounding from the sideline with 14.6 left, the Snappers drove to the hoop for a layup without a Cougar foul, making it 68-65. ICC advanced up-floor before calling a timeout with 6.7 seconds left.
The Cougars would put up a shot with 5.9 seconds left. The Snappers rebounded the ball and dribbled out the clock for the three-point win.
UNOFFICIAL COUGAR SCORING (Full Box Score Unavailable)
Idris Thomas - 15
Isaiah Payne - 12
Jaylen Brown - 7
Rickey Woods III - 6
Cooper Knoll - 5
Shamar Grant - 5
Jeremiah Tate - 5
Payton Cook - 4
Michael Womer - 3
Azarion Richardson - 2
Anthony Allison Jr. - 1
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Lincoln Land Loggers (3-19 Overall, 1-8 Region 24)
Saturday, February 8th - 1:00 PM
at Cass Gym - Springfield, Illinois
Watch Live (HUDL-TV)
