Mon. Nov 11th, 2024

Titans fall short in overtime loss at North Central College

NAPERVILLE — Steph Curry or Shea Cupples? A 40-foot last-second three-pointer sent the game to overtime where the Cardinals flew off with the win on Saturday, Feb. 11. 

The Illinois Wesleyan Men’s Basketball team dressed in black for the second time of the year as they had a three-point lead with four seconds left to go in regulation, but they couldn’t hold on. 

Now the Titans sit with a 12-11 overall record (7-7 in the CCIW) as the last two games of the season will decide whether or not they make it into the CCIW post-season tournament. 

IWU led by 14 points going into the half as they came out red-hot, shooting 59.4 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes. A three-point barrage was on display as the Titans made 5-10 attempts from beyond the arc in the first half. 

Nine of the 19 shots made were assisted on by the Titans as they continued their excellent ball movement to find the open guy. A part of the game where the Titans have seemed to struggle is when the offense is stagnant, seemingly Head Coach Ron Rose drew up plays to find open guys in space for easy buckets. 

Another strong offensive performance from senior Lucas Heflen paced the Titans as he dropped 19 points on 6-12 shooting. Heflen made three of the team’s three-point shots in the first half as he couldn’t be stopped. 

The backcourt dominance didn’t stop there as sophomore Hakim Williams dropped his first career double-double dropping 14 points and 10 rebounds. 

“You know none of us are happy to lose a game let alone this way, but we took it on the chin and learned from it. We don’t have time to sulk, now it’s onto the next game,” said Williams. 

The Cardinals turned the tables completely coming out of the break going on an impressive 25-4 run spanning over 11 minutes. The run gave North Central a four-point lead with six minutes left in regulation. 

The start of the second half throughout the season has been a struggle for the Titans coming out flat and not matching the intensity they have at the tipoff. 

IWU managed to get their lead back and boost it to a five-point advantage with a little over a minute to go with an elbow jump shot from senior Cody Mitchell. 

A last-second desperation heave saw the Cardinals force overtime and go on a 9-0 run in just a minute of the extra period. 

The Titans could not muster anything more as North Central completed the miraculous comeback. 

Williams went on to say after the game, “We just need to stay locked in, we have to understand that basketball is a game of runs so when a team goes on a run we just have to stay composed. If we execute plays and play our game, we’ll be fine.”

“The keys to winning the next two games are limiting our mistakes and playing the game at our pace and the rest will take care of itself.”

The Titans return to the friendly confines of the Shirk Center on Saturday, Feb. 18 for the regular season closer against Carthage College. 

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