(Sugar Grove, IL) – Waubonsee Community College's men's basketball team put their five-game winning streak on the line Thursday evening when they hosted the College of Lake County in an Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) match-up in Erickson Hall Gymnasium. The Chiefs (17-6, 5-3) utilized their height advantage, made some timely shots and held off the Lancers in the second half to grab a 95-69 victory and run their winning streak to six games. In the process Waubonsee won their fifth straight conference game after starting out 0-3 in league play, to creep back into the picture regarding the ISCC title. The Chiefs have moved into third place in the standings behind Moraine Valley Community College and Prairie State College, who are tied for first with 7-1 records in conference.
The Chiefs won the opening tip and Melo Garrick scored inside shortly thereafter to get Waubonsee on the board first. Lake County (10-12, 2-6) took a 6-5 lead before Waubonsee went ahead 10-6 on a short jumper in traffic by Jaylyn Kelley five minutes into the game. The Chiefs then utilized their height advantage as J. Caleb Slawinski fed Garrick cutting to the basket and the 6'6" sophomore then hammered down a one-handed reverse jam for a 12-8 lead. Three minutes later Duane Doss found Joey Niesman on a fast break for an easy lay-in and a 20-13 Chiefs advantage. Dylan Fuzak then came off the bench to score on an inside basket and on the next possession the 6'9" freshman nailed a long three-pointer to put Waubonsee in front 27-16 with eight and a half minutes remaining in the first half. Back-to-back triples by Fuzak and Colton Schutt extended the Chiefs' lead to 33-20 two minutes later. Waubonsee built its lead up to 17 points with five minutes to go and traded baskets with the Lancers over the final minutes of the period before heading to the locker room with a 47-31 lead.
As far as Waubonsee was concerned, the second half started in a similar fashion to the first as Garrick scored inside and was fouled. The Chiefs forward then completed the three-point play to put the home team in front again by 17 points. A high arching three-pointer by David Robinson five minutes into the second half pushed Waubonsee's lead to 58-39. Lake County trimmed the lead to 13 at one point, but Fuzak drilled another three-pointer to put the Chiefs up 68-49 with 12 minutes to go in the game. At the midway point of the second half the Lancers got the deficit back down to 13 points as Justin St. Louis connected for his seventh three-pointer. Lake County got the deficit down to as low as 11 points before Brice Langford threw down a two-handed slam with six minutes to go to put Waubonsee back up by 14 points. The Lancers would not threaten again after that as Niesman completed a three-point play with two minutes left to give the Chiefs their biggest lead to that point at 89-67. Kelley and Niesman then capped off Waubonsee's big win with long three-pointers as the shot clock wound down on the Chiefs' last two possessions in the final minute.
Kelley led the way registering six assists and booking 21 points, including six long range baskets as Waubonsee finished 15 of 29 from three-point range. Niesman finished with 17 points, seven boards and eight assists. Fuzak tallied 14 points, Slawinski snagged six rebounds, Schutt handed out four assists, and Doss dished out seven assists as the Chiefs compiled 30 team assists. St. Louis ended the night with a game-high 29 points for the Lancers.
The Chiefs are set to host Moraine Valley Community College next Tuesday, February 7 in an ISCC battle beginning at 7:15 p.m. with the women's contest at 5:15 p.m. Waubonsee then travels to McHenry County College on Thursday, February 9 to square off against the Scots in Crystal Lake. The Chiefs then return home on Saturday, February 11 for an afternoon matinee against Wright College from Chicago with tip-off scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The women's game is set to precede that contest at 1:00 p.m.