After ending last season on a close loss in the post-season playoffs, the College of DuPage men’s basketball team came to their first home game ready to take this season by storm. The Chaps hosted the Elgin Community College Spartans on Nov. 5 in a thriller of a game decided by a late foul.
With a fraction of a second left in the game, McGinley could only throw the ball up and say a little prayer, but when he was in his shooting motion, he got slapped on the arm by a Spartan, which put him at the line with a chance to gain the lead with 2 free throws. McGinley made his first free throw to tie it up, and Elgin called a timeout in an attempt to ice McGinley.
Prior to that, there were numerous lead changes and momentum shifts throughout the game.
DuPage dominated the offensive boards early thanks to Braylen Meredith but couldn’t convert most of the time on the extra possessions. COD called its first timeout 5 minutes into the game, down by one at 6-7. Both teams went on streaky runs, but Elgin maintained their lead throughout the first half, leading by as much as 12 at one point. The Chaps went into the locker room after going on a 7-2 run to end the half at 41-44 in favor of ECC.
“We know it’s a long game; a lot of possessions is the pace of the game, and it’s just the matter of us hanging in. They’re [Elgin] picking up fouls, and I’m just proud of our guys staying tough,” said COD Head Coach Joe Kuhn.
For COD, coming out of the half strong would be the difference between having a winning or losing record. DuPage came into the game 1-1 on the season after starting the season off with a loss against Oakton College (68-74) and a nail-biting bounceback win the day after against Grand Rapids Community College (86-83). On the other side, Elgin was 1-0 after demolishing Johnson University JV with a score of 100-58.
Coming out of the gates to start the second half, DuPage’s Greg Strong and Charles Farrell hit back-to-back corner threes to get the lead at 50-48. Strong had the hot hand, which translated into another three for him; Elgin called a timeout to stop the bleeding. 56-48 Chaparrals. The Spartans ended their scoring drought after COD had trouble grabbing a defensive board, which led to a Spartan basket.
Payton Moore joins the three-point party for COD with two of his own to widen DuPage’s lead. After Moore’s couple of threes, Elgin’s coach called their second timeout of the half to switch up their defense. Coming out of the break, Elgin started full-court pressing, giving them life. The Spartans went on a 7-0 run to put them behind one. Adyn McGinley went coast to coast and finished the tough layup with an and-one to give COD some breathing room. McGinley made the free throw. With 5 minutes left in the game, the Chaps were in the bonus with a lead of 2 (78-76). COD found themselves up 82-80 with just under two minutes, but after a kickball violation on DuPage, Elgin got the ball back and made a three to grab the lead (82-83) with less than a minute in the game.
Down by one COD called a timeout with 46 seconds left.
Out of the time out, Strong shot a quick corner three but hit the rim and bounced out, but not before a Spartan touched it. On the COD inbound, McGinley got fouled right away, putting him at the line for a chance to make it a one-point game. He made both free throws (86-87).
Elgin completed the inbound but stepped out of bounce to give the Chaparrals the ball back with 16 seconds left on the clock. COD called a timeout to set up a play.
With many fans on their feet, McGinley passed the ball to Farrell. Farrell found Meredith, who was cutting towards the basket, but the gap closed up, so he kicked it out to Strong from behind the arc. Strong pump faked to make his defender jump, and he drove into the lane but kicked it back out to Meredith on the right wing. Meredith took a dribble to his left, stopped, spun to his right, and shot a midrange fadeaway that hit the iron but bounced into McGinley’s hands right under the rim.
McGinley’s second free throw was all net to give the Chaparrals the lead at 88-87.
The Spartans threw the ball all down the court, but it was tipped and went out of bounce as time expired to give the Chaparrals the win on their home opener.
Three key players in the Chaparral victory were Strong, McGinley, and Meredith. Strong cashed in a 17/3/3 stat line and had 4 threes in the second half alone.
“In the first half, I was missing all my shots; I was like 0-5, then when we went into halftime, the team was like, Just keep your head up; we know you can shoot; just keep shooting. Then when he came out the first time I was open, they threw it to me, and I knocked it down, and they kept giving me the ball, and I kept making them,” said Strong.
McGinley led the team in scoring by putting up 18 points and had 6 rebounds and 3 assists to pair with, two of the points being the clutch last-second free throws.
“Nothing much was going through my mind; I was pretty calm but didn’t want too much extra outside noise getting to me. I just focused on the rim and my routine and hit the first,” stated McGinley about being at the line with the game in his hands.
Meredith bullied his way inside the post to grab a team-high 9 rebounds that he paired with 15 points. Meredith stated, “It’s [rebounds] everything; playing with energy and hustle, you know, grabbing the offensive boards and rebounds can change the game.”
The Chaparrals finished the game with a 2-1 record on the season.
On Nov. 7, the Chaps faced Illinois Valley Community College in Oglesby, Ill. COD started the game playing catch-up to the Eagles, with the halftime scores sitting at 32-33. Thanks to Meredith, the Chaps were able to pull ahead in the second half and claim the win. Meredith scored a total of 25 points, with the help of sophomores Strong and Ben Zielinski netting 17 and 12 points, respectively.
COD left Oglesby with a 70-66 victory and a record of 3-1. They finish their road trip in Moline, Ill, on Nov. 14 while they face Black Hawk College-Moline.
