Rock Valley College men stay undefeated in thrilling come from behind victory
Box Score
(Kooper Glick, LT Davis and Elijah Williams - RVC Athletics)
Ellsworth Community College took control of the game early. The Golden Eagles were down nine at halftime and down 13 early in the second half. However, behind LT Davis catching fire, the consistent play of Kooper Glick and a double-double from Elijah Williams, Rock Valley College was able to erase the deficit and earn a 71-64 victory to stay undefeated on the season.
Davis, a Rockford Jefferson high school graduate and RVC's leading scorer, shot a chilly 1-8 from the field in the first half but bombed in four second half three-point shots to tie Glick with a team-high 16 points on the evening. Davis also hauled in 9 rebounds on the evening from the point guard position. Glick had his hands full controlling the Panther's Myzeah Batie-Gaddy, who entered the contest scoring 25.1 points per game. However, the freshman guard from Indiana limited Batie-Gaddy to just 11 points while going 6-10 from the field (3-6 3PT) himself en route to his 16 point scoring performance. Williams went for 13 points and 13 rebounds in the win while Dalton Payton filled up the box score as usual with 8 points, 6 rebounds and a game-high 6 assists.
"Ellsworth had a great game plan entering the game," head coach Craig Doty stated. "They took advantage of our post-to-post double teams, they slowed the game down with their 2-3 zone, and they protected the ball offensively. If it wasn't for our rebounding advantage we wouldn't have been able to pull this one out. This is the first time this season that we played from behind. It was good for us to experience and I am happy to see our guys battle through some on-court adversity to earn the win."
The Golden Eagles outrebounded Ellsworth, an NJCAA D2 member who was receiving votes in the national poll entering Friday's contest, 36-27. RVC hauled in 16 offensive rebounds compared to 8 for the Panthers. Both teams played a clean game offensively with Ellsworth committing only 9 turnovers while the Golden Eagles turned it over 10 times.
RVC improves to 12-0 on the season while Ellsworth falls to 8-3 on the year.
The next action for Rock Valley College is on Tuesday at home vs. College of Lake County. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 PM on the campus of Rock Valley College.Â
