Trailing 60-49 with 6:50 remaining, the IC men went on a 17-6 run down the stretch and forged a 66-all deadlock when senior Dylan Dudley hit a pair of free throws with nine seconds left. Except for a 40-40 tie at the 15:38 mark of the second half, the Blueboys had trailed the entire contest.
The Vikings’ Dan Evans took over the extra session, however, and rallied the visitors with ten of their 15 points as they improved to 15-4 overall and remained atop the league standings at 10-3. The loss was a huge setback for an Illinois College team desperately trying to battle back into the Midwest Conference playoff picture. With just three games remaining, the IC men are 9-11 overall and 5-8 in league play. The Blueboys are tied for seventh-place with Beloit and St. Norbert, two and one-half games behind Carroll and Lake Forest, who are tied for the fourth and final post-season berth.
After falling behind 36-29 at the break, Illinois College hit nearly 54 percent of its second-half shots (14-26) to scramble back into a tie. Dudley, who is nearing the 1000-point mark for his career, finished with 15 points and seven assists. Fellow seniors Josh Clark and Evan Arnold scored 18 and 17 points, respectively, on Senior Day.
Lawrence enjoyed another impressive effort from Chris Braier who finished with 15 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. Jason Holinbeck also tallied 15 while Evans finished with 13 and Brendan Falls added 10. The winners hit 24 of their 33 free throws while the hosts went to the line just 16 times, making 11 of their charity shots. Lawrence also posted a 40-31 rebound margin.
Against St. Norbert the previous night (February 4), Clark and sophomore Pete Jennings combined for 35 points to lead the Blueboys to a 72-62 victory. The winners shot 55 percent (15-27) while racing out to a 42-28 halftime lead and never let the Knights to get any closer than six points the rest of the way.
St. Norbert’s Brandon Hansen led all scorers with 23 points. Aaron Faulkner and Austin Washington each scored 10 points for the visitors while Dudley added 11 for Illinois College. Clark’s totals include five-of-nine from behind the arc.
Illinois College will close out the home portion of the season February 9 against Monmouth before going on the road for games at Grinnell February 12 and Lake Forest February 16.