MT. CARMEL, ILL. – It was something Wabash Valley College basketball coach Mike Carpenter had picked up early in his career from legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith.
"In practice all the time, they would play little four-minute games," Carpenter recalled. "Change the score and have them figure out how to hold the lead or come back and score."
So, when the Warriors had to do both of those things down the stretch Wednesday night against Kaskaskia, it seemed as if they had seen it all before.
Because, as Raekwon Drake said, at least in practice, they had. "We've been through situations like that in practice, so we already knew" how to handle it in a game setting.
It was Drake (6-foot-5 sophomore from Chicago) who flushed home a Marcus Garrett pass with 14 seconds left to snap an 80-80 tie and provide the Warriors with enough of a cushion in an 84-80 Great Rivers Athletic Conference victory.
It was Isaac Stanback (6-4 freshman from Homewood) who then preserved the win with a defensive poke in traffic that caused the ball to go out of bounds off Blue Devil hands with 5.7 seconds to go.
And, it was Darius Osborne (6-8 freshman from Louisville, KY) who had earlier erased Kaskaskia's final lead with his only field goal of the night - a 3-pointer – to give the hosts a 71-69 lead with 4:26 left.
But, whereas the Warriors handled the stretch run as Smith – err Carpenter - would have wanted, that couldn't be said about the rest of the night.
"Until the last four minutes, we had no business winning that game," Carpenter said. "We didn't approach this game the right way mentally. We thought we could just come out and beat them."
The roster lists Stanback and Drake as mid-range, but they were anything but on this night.
Stanback finished team-high with 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting. He led the Warriors on the glass as well, with seven rebounds.
Drake was just as powerful inside, going 7-of-8 and netting 16 points. Bobby Harvey (6-3 sophomore from Hazel Crest), added 17 points, while veteran Marcus Garrett (6-1 redshirt sophomore from Country Club Hills) hit for 10.
Wabash Valley improved to 18-9 overall, and 11-4 in the GRAC. The Warriors maintained their hold on a first-round bye in the upcoming District tournament. Kaskaskia fell to 14-13 and 5-9 in GRAC play.
Saturday, the Warriors will host Southwestern (13-12, 6-8) in a Sophomore Night game at Spencer Sports Center. The Blue Storm, coached by former WVC coach Jay Harrington, lost at Lewis & Clark on Wednesday, 93-81. The tipoff Saturday is set for 6 p.m.