M-Basketball: #8 RVC Falls Short in Region IV Championship
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 In what proved to be the season finale for the Golden Eagles, #8 RVC Men's Basketball fell just short to #4 Elgin Community College 72-69 in the Region IV Tournament Championship game. Rock Valley finishes its season with a 23-9 record overall.
In Saturday night's Region IV Tournament Semifinal, RVC was able to erase a 9-point second half deficit against Joliet Junior College to earn a 82-78 win. The Golden Eagles relied heavily upon their half court defense in the first half to take a 29-25 lead into the break. The second half featured fast paced offensive for both teams, each scoring 53 points as a team after the break. RVC's defense held Joliet to 25-74 (33.8%) from the field and 8-36 (22.2%) from the three-point line. The Golden Eagles were led by
Jace Kitchen's (DeKalb, IL) double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds. Freshman guard
Elijah Pappas (Rockford, IL) contributed 19 points and 5 rebounds while fellow freshman guard,
Malique Ross (Montgomery, IL), contributed 18 points and 9 assists.
In Sunday's championship game, the Golden Eagles took a narrow 2-point advantage into halftime. Following the break, in a back and forth battle on both sides, the Golden Eagles found themselves down 2 with just over 12 seconds remaining in regulation. The Golden Eagles got a clean look at the basket, but the three-point attempt fell just short. Rock Valley College was paced by 4 players in double figures, led by sophomores
Dalton Menke (Winnebago, IL) and
Alec Pena (Rockton, IL) with 18 points each. Menke and Pena were both named to the Region IV All-Tournament Team.
"It is tough," said Head Men's Basketball Coach
Evan Lavery. "We just did not earn the right to win the game. We obviously were not prepared for it (the loss), but it is a tough part of life that good things come to an end before you are ready for them to be over. Our sophomores will definitely be missed."
