INA - Rend Lake College basketball teams saw two streaks snapped, for better and worse, Monday night against Lincoln Trail College in Ina.
The Warriors pulled off a dramatic one-point win, 74-73, snapping a seven-game streak without a win. Coach Tim Wills called it a memorable game, working with the skeleton crew he took into Waugh Gym last night.
"In 17 years it's one of the best team victories I have had a team come up with," he said. "We were really short-handed. We had some guys who hadn't been playing a lot who had to play some significant minutes. We had some guys who got to score a little bit more and do some things they haven't been called on to do."
The Warriors were again without point guard Reggie Reed (toe injury) and didn't have sophomore scorer C.J. Trotter who had a death in the family. Brian Gamber scored 28 to lead all scorers while Josh Davis added 20. Overall, seven Warriors pitched in for the team's 74 points.
RLC was down 37-29 at the half but pulled back to even things up in the second half. With less than a minute to play, the Warriors took a one-point lead which they soon watched disappear after LTC answered by hitting a field goal with only eight seconds to go. Coming back from a timeout, RLC inbounded the ball on a play that developed into a Davis field goal off an assist by freshman point guard Jimmy Abraham and put RLC up again by a single point. It was enough as Wills' defense held and put the conference win in the books. RLC is now 3-9 in the Great Rivers Athletic Conference and 13-12 overall.
"This is a big win for our team," Wills said. "We have been struggling a little bit, though I thought we played very well on Saturday but didn't quite get it done in double overtime. Tonight, we played without Reggie … and without C.J. It was a great team effort and a great win."
Both teams hit 28 field goals. LTC had 11 three-point goals. The Warriors finished 15 of 21 from the line to their opponent's 6-10.
The Lady Warriors, riding a four-game win streak, lost 63-55 to LTC. RLC, up 23-19 at the break, was just outplayed in the second half as three Lincoln Trail players put up 94 percent of their total 63 points.
Both the Lady Warriors and Warriors will face Kaskaskia College, Wednesday night, in Centralia. Tip-offs are scheduled for 5:30 and 7:30.
WOMEN's BOX SCORE
LTC (63) Bass 1, 0-0, 2 Davis 4, 5-6, 16 Benning 10, 4-8, 29 Hall 4, 6-8, 14 Asberry 1, 0-0, 2
RLC (55) Wilson 4, 3-6, 11 Dominique 5, 2-4, 15 Bonner 1, 1-2, 4 Flynn 5, 4-6, 15 Clark 2, 0-2, 4 Wiegel 2, 2-3, 6
Halftime score LTC 19 RLC 23; 3-point goals LTC 8 (Davis 3, Benning 5) RLC 5 (Dominique 3, Bonner, Flynn); Records RLC 18-8, 9-3
MEN's BOX SCORE
LTC (73) Ransom 3, 0-0, 7 Weeden 3, 3-4, 13 Jackson 0, 1-2, 1 Griffis 5, 0-0, 11 Relerford 1, 0-0, 2 Wills 5, 1-1, 12 Chappell 1, 0-0, 3 Squires 9, 1-3, 24
RLC (74) Abraham 3, 0-0, 7 Badger 1,0-0, 3 Gamber 11, 6-7, 28 Davis 8, 3-5, 20 Thurau 0,0-0,0 Psyrris 0, 2-4, 2 Randolph 3, 2-2, 8 Carpenter 2, 2-3, 6
Halftime score LTC 37 RLC 29; 3-point goals LTC 11 (Squires 5, Chappell, Wills, Griffis, Weeden 2, Ransom) RLC 3 (Abraham, Badger, Davis); Records RLC 13-12, 3-9