Williams Sparks Rally to Help Sandburg Shoo Away Wildcats
Aaron Frey
Thursday, November 30, 2017 9:59 PM
Athletics
Galesburg, IL
The Carl Sandburg College men’s basketball team led from start to finish as it beat Culver-Stockton JV 81-70 on Thursday night at John M. Lewis Gymnasium for the Chargers’ fourth straight victory.
Sophomore Matt Wendling (Athens, Ill./Athens) finished a rebound shy of a double-double with 21 points and nine boards to lead Sandburg (9-2), but it was sophomore guard Joe Williams (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) who sparked a second-half run with back-to-back-to-back key plays.
The Wildcats cut the Chargers’ 47-31 halftime lead to 51-45 when Williams came off the bench to hit a 3-pointer, take a charge and score a layup on consecutive possessions. That opened a 17-3 burst that gave Sandburg its largest lead of the night at 68-48 with 8:53 to play.
“We were in some trouble there early in the second half, and Joe came in and saved the day for us,” Chargers coach Ryan Twaddle said. “He gave us a great boost right away off the bench, and that really turned the game back in our favor.”
Kourtlandt Martin (Evansville, Ind./Central) had 16 points and eight rebounds for the Chargers, and Juan Contreras (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee) scored a season-best 15 points, including a 5-for-6 night from the free-throw line. Sandburg finished the contest 25 of 29 from the stripe.
Freshman Deandrey Robinson (Peoria, Ill./Peoria) had eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds, with 10 coming in the first half.
The Chargers, whose 51.4 field goal percentage entering the game ranked fifth in NJCAA Division II, shot 46.4 percent (26 of 56) from the floor against the Wildcats.
Dahveed McKinney had 13 points to lead Culver-Stockton. Jakob Happel and Colin Jones each added 12 points for the Wildcats.
Sandburg hosts Eureka JV at 3 p.m. Sunday for the second of four straight home contests.