After dropping their first five league games, the Blueboys responded with home court wins over Carroll (January 21) and Beloit (January 22) to improve to 3-5 in the league and 7-8 overall. And even with seven teams ahead of them in the MWC standings, the Blueboys have made it clear they intend to be a factor in determining the field for the league’s post-season championship.
Senior Evan Arnold made the most dramatic basket of the season when he drained a three-pointer at the buzzer against Carroll, lifting the Blueboys to a thrilling 70-67 victory. Arnold’s heroics, combined with a season-best 22 points from sophomore Pete Jennings, proved that the IC men could compete on equal terms with the league’s top-echelon teams. The Blueboys trailed 28-27 at the break, but hit 57 percent of their second-half shots (15-26) to record the big win. The loss dropped the Pioneers to 9-5 and 4-3.
The winner out-rebounded Carroll by a 43-37 count and were led by Jennings’ eight boards. Arnold finished with 12 points while sophomore Brendan Bachman collected four assists. Paul Toshner led Carroll with 13, followed by Jason Scheper with 11 and Dan Kwiatkowski with 10. Ben Hickethier had a team-high seven rebounds for the visitors.
The momentum from the last-second victory carried over the next day when the Blueboys shot a season-high 68 percent (30-44) en route to an 84-75 victory over visiting Beloit.
Senior Dylan Dudley enjoyed one of his finest games of the season for IC by scoring a game-high 23 points and collecting seven rebounds. Dudley canned eight of his 10 field goal tries and all seven of his free throws. Arnold scored 21 for the hosts while junior Josh Clark tallied a season-best 17 points. Pete Jennings also reached double-figures with 12 points.
Beloit, which fell to 6-9 and 3-5, led 43-42 at halftime. The Buccaneers also had four players reach double-figures, led by Josh Hinz with 21. Danny Towns scored 15 for the visitors, while Nick Hendry had 14 and Jon Allen added 11. Hinz had a game-best eight rebounds while Clark tied Dudley for team honors on the boards with seven.
Key road contests await the Blueboys at Ripon January 28 and at Carroll January 29.