Galesburg, IL – Illinois College came back from a big second half deficit to deal the Prairie Fire a 91-85 heartbreaking loss on Senior Night at Memorial Gym.

Knox’s two seniors were recognized before the game and then got to work on the floor. 

Lukas Shaw (Portland, OR, U.S. Grant) and Tyler Olson (Marengo, IA, Iowa Valley) scored the first seven points for the Prairie Fire.  Shaw made two shots from inside on back-to-back possessions for a 4-0 lead.  After IC’s Isaac Grapperhaus drained a 3-pointer, Olson came back on the next Knox possession with a trey of his own for a 7-3 lead with 18:25 remaining in the half.

The Blueboys (9-13, 6-11 MWC) followed with a basket by Nathan Kohler and trailed 7-5 at the 18:14 mark when Knox (1-21, 1-16) went on an 11-2 run, capped by a bucket from sophomore Armand Stricklin (Lee Summit, MO, Lee Summit West), to extend the lead to double-figures at 18-7 with 13:20 before the break. 

The Prairie Fire built their biggest lead of the game at 37-12 on a 3-pointer by Chris McNichols (Skokie, IL, Niles West) with 7:18 in the half.  IC whittled the Knox lead down to 41-25 when Chris Marrs scored at the 3:01 mark.  Stricklin buried two straight 3-pointers to build the Prairie Fire lead back to 20 at 47-27 with 2:11 left in the half.

Illinois College added a pair of free throws by Zeke Light to close the first half scoring and Knox went into the locker room at halftime up 47-29.

The Prairie Fire remained in control, leading 57-35 on a jumper by first-year Javaka Thompson (Chicago, IL, Whitney Young) with 16:22 left in the game.  Illinois College took over from there.

The Blueboys went on an 18-4 run to cut the Knox lead to 61-53 with 10:56 to play.  Two free throws by Shaw on the next possession gave the Fire a 63-53 advantage.  Chris Irvin hit back-to-back jumpers and Kohler added a basket to make it a 63-59 game with 9:23 to go.

McNichols built the lead back to six at 65-59 on the next Knox possession.  The Blueboys scored nine of the next 12 points to tie the game at 68-all at 7:09 and took their first lead at 71-70 40 seconds later.

The Prairie Fire scored four straight points on a basket by junior David Jones (Denver, CO, Colorado Academy) and two more free throws by Shaw for a 74-71 advantage with 5:29 in the contest.

Illinois College rolled off nine straight points and led 80-74 with 3:46 on the clock.

Shaw followed with a jumper to make it 80-76, but that’s as close as Knox could get the rest of the way.

The Prairie Fire hit 8-of-14 baskets from 3-point range and shot a red hot 61 percent in the first half while IC connected on just 28 percent from the floor. 

The Blueboys followed with 64 percent shooting in the second half to finish at 47 percent and 14-for-17 from the foul line.  Knox shot 46 percent in the second half and 53 percent for the game – including 10-of-21 on 3-pointers – while going 13-for-15 from the free throw stripe.

IC did not commit a turnover in the second half and had three in the game while the Prairie Fire committed 14 that led to 15 Illinois College points.  The Blueboys, who snapped a five-game slide, also held a 14-4 edge in second chance points.

Shaw finished with a season-high 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the floor and 7-for-8 from the foul line.  Junior Eric Miller (Villa Park, IL, Willowbrook) added 15 points and Stricklin had 14 – all in the first half.  Olson finished with six points and six assists.

Kohler scored 19 of his team-high 24 points in the second half for IC.  Brandon Berry followed with 18.

Knox plays its season finale on Saturday at Carroll University at 3:00 p.m.

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