By Evan Merrill
Mt. Carmel Register
MOUNT CARMEL -- Wabash Valley College staved off Rend Lake's comeback aspirations late to hold on for an 86-76 victory over the opposing Warriors on Saturday at the Spencer Sports Center in Mount Carmel.
It looked as if Wabash Valley was set to race away with the game early, as the lead swelled to 29-16 with 11:12 remaining in the first half following a hot shooting start by the Warriors.
But to Rend Lake's credit, they managed to buckle down, get some stops and convert on the other end. Following a 9-0 run with WVC's starters on the bench, the Warriors whistled for a timeout to halt Rend Lake's momentum.
"We took it to them then got a little comfortable with the way we were playing," WVC Assistant Coach Tanner Morris said. "We let a 13-point lead slip away in the first half. Our bench came in, which normally our bench does a good job of taking our lead and pushing it up a little bit, we've taken pride on our bench the last couple years of coming in and giving our starters that break, holding that lead and maintaining it or pushing it a bit. Tonight they didn't, we were a little flat."
The two teams would slug it out for the remaining nine minutes, and Wabash Valley entered halftime ahead 43-39, though they led by double-figures on several occasions throughout the first half.
Rend Lake managed to secure their first lead of the game at 58-57 following a 3-pointer with 12:54 remaining in the contest, but that lead would be short lived.
Freshman Issac Stanback would score inside, followed by seven straight points by sophomore Marcus Garrett, who helped his team regain the lead.
Momentum was swinging heavily into Wabash Valley's favor, as sophomore Tony Burks and freshman Jejuan Weatherspoon scored on a pair of drives, leading up to a thunderous, poster dunk by freshman Karl Jones.
Jones' dunk set the bench on fire and albeit there was still around eight minutes remaining, his monstrous and-one to put WVC ahead 74-65 felt like a dagger.
"Karl is really good at jumping and really good at finishing. I'll take credit for his jumping," Morris joked. "But Karl's pretty good at that, that ignites the guys, gets them going. I think that was a little spark for us right there, where we needed to push it, separate ourselves. I think we got it up to 10 or 12 at one point. It was enough to hang on in the second half."
Following that, Rend Lake couldn't seem to manage to cut the lead to within five, and Wabash Valley coolly knocked down some free throws down the stretch to pull away with the victory.
Wabash Valley's overwhelming size advantage on the glass was a crucial factor and separator between the two teams. WVC out rebounded Rend Lake 55-35, including a 20-13 advantage on the offensive glass. There's certainly things to clean up, such as Wabash Valley's 17 turnovers and just nine assists, but a win's a win for a team whose confidence is immensely building.
"Our goal every game is to out rebound the other team by at least 10 rebounds," Morris said. "We really emphasize that and since I've been here we've really taken pride in that. This group's done a really good job of that. We had three guys tonight, two with 10 rebounds and one with 11. It doesn't matter who it is, every night we've got four or five guys who can grab 10 rebounds. Jejuan did a great job tonight rebounding, Marcus does a great job rebounding and Raekwon is a tremendous athlete who's very hard to keep off the boards. Those three rebounded really well, they do a phenomenal job of that and we've got those other guys who rebound as well too. We really emphasize that and have taken advantage of that when we do. Offensively we grab a lot of offensive rebounds and it helps push the lead up when you get second chance opportunities."
Garrett led all scorers with 24 points. Sophomore Raekwon Drake recorded a 14-point, 10 rebound double-double for the Warriors as he fiercely crashed the glass, followed by sophomore Bobby Harvey's 10 points. Rend Lake was led by Hayden Thomas' 16 points.
The victory increases Wabash Valley's win streak to seven games, and 11 of their last 14 games. Their three losses over that stretch each came by four points or less to the top teams in the Region, Vincennes, John A. Logan and Olney Central.
"We're just playing ball right now, we're not worried about taking it too far ahead, we're just worried about taking it game by game," Burks said. "We're playing together, playing good together. Just swinging the ball, out rebounding teams, playing harder and doing the little things -- that's what they tell us, do the little things and everybody just finds their role and plays their role. That's what we've been doing lately, everybody's just been playing good. We're on a roll right now, we just want to keep this going."
They'll look to keep it rolling in a rematch against Olney Central, who defeated the Warriors 79-75 back on Nov. 20 at the Spencer Sports Center. This time the contest will be hosted by the Blue Knights in a hostile atmosphere, though it's setting to be a revenge game for the Warriors and one with huge implications in the conference standings.