Chargers Fall to No. 7 Triton Despite Martin’s Season-High 26
Aaron Frey
Friday, December 8, 2017 9:57 PM
Athletics
Galesburg, IL
The Carl Sandburg College men’s basketball team gave nationally ranked Triton a stiff test, but the Trojans used a second-half surge to hand the Chargers an 83-72 loss Friday night at John M. Lewis Gymnasium.
Sandburg (10-3) saw its five-game winning streak come to an end despite a dazzling performance from sophomore point guard Kourtlandt Martin (Evansville, Ind./Central), who scored a season-best 26 points on 8-of-16 shooting and dished out eight assists, matching his season high.
The Chargers, fourth among “others receiving votes” in this week’s NJCAA Division II poll, scored the first five of the second half to tie the game at 32, but the No. 7 Trojans scored 13 of the next 17 to go ahead for good.
The closest Sandburg got after that was 45-40 with 12:00 left on a steal-and-layup from Matt Wendling (Athens, Ill./Athens), who finished with 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting. The Chargers got within 66-59 at 4:50 on Wendling’s bucket off a pass from Juan Contreras (Kewanee, Ill./Kewanee), but Triton answered with back-to-back 3-pointers from Arman Enright-Contreras and Deonta Terrell.
“We played a solid first half and never let it really get away from us in the second half, but we never found a way to get consistent stops,” Chargers coach Ryan Twaddle said. “We had a 21-12 edge in turnovers, but they were still able to get too many easy baskets when they got shots up.”
Joe Williams (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) scored a season-high 12 for the Chargers, including three 3s. Freshman forward T.J. Pendleton (Galesburg, Ill./Galesburg) added nine rebounds.
Terrell finished with a game-leading 28 points, including a 4-for-5 night from long distance, to pace the Trojans, who hit 12 of 28 from beyond the arc. Devin Blake and Meriton Bunjaku each added 10 points for Triton.
Sandburg will have a quick turnaround as it hosts McHenry County at 3 p.m. Saturday in the back end of a doubleheader. The women’s contest will tip off at 1 p.m.
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