Hot-Shooting Morton Stops Sandburg Men in Region IV Semis
Aaron Frey
Sunday, March 3, 2019 7:34 PM
Athletics
Sugar Grove, IL
The Carl Sandburg College men’s basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Morton squad that drained 17 3-pointers and defeated the Chargers 81-73 on Sunday afternoon in the semifinals of the Region IV District 4 tournament.
The loss snapped a five-game win streak for the fourth-seeded Chargers, who finish their season with a 21-8 record. Top-seeded Morton (20-12) advances to Saturday’s championship game.
KEY MOMENTS
- Two free throws from T.J. Pendleton (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) pulled Sandburg within 62-59 midway through the second half, but the Panthers scored 10 of the next 12 to open up an 11-point bulge.
- Sandburg followed with seven straight points of its own to close its deficit to 72-68 with 4:28 left, but Shawn Marlow’s eighth trey of the game and a Marcell Winston layup pushed Morton’s lead to 77-68 with 3:19 to go.
- The Chargers hit their first seven shots of the game — with three on 3s from freshman Scott Gowan (Rockford, Ill./Rockford East) — to grab a 17-7 lead in the first 4 minutes.
- Morton, however, drained 10 first-half 3s to take a 46-42 advantage into the locker room. A Marlow 3-pointer at 12:42 of the first half gave the Panthers a 23-21 advantage they wouldn’t relinquish.
SANDBURG STANDOUT
Gowan scored 19 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. The first-year guard went 9 of 13 from the floor and hit 4 of his 8 shots beyond the arc. He went 7 of 8 from the field and 4 of 5 from long distance before intermission.
OTHER TOP CHARGERS
- Sophomore forward Deandrey Robinson had 21 points and a team-leading six boards in his final game as a Charger. The All-Region selection hit 9 of 17 shots and tied for the team lead with four assists.
- Freshman Carter Fayhee (Macomb, Ill./Macomb) scored seven, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and picked up a pair of steals.
- Freshman Elias Akale (Ashdad, Israel/Mekif Tet) hit all three of his field goal attempts and scored seven points.
FOR THE PANTHERS
Marlow hit 8 of 14 3s off the bench and scored 24 to lead the Panthers, who shot 52 percent from the floor (30 of 58) and 3-point range (17 of 33). Tyrone Rivers and Dexter Reed each added 15 points for Morton. Rivers also had 10 assists.