On Feb. 20, the College of DuPage men’s basketball hosted the Madison Wolfpack, before which they held a pregame ceremony to honor their most esteemed players. COD players Greg Strong, Ben Zielinski, Quentin Schaffer, Terence Spencer, Adrian Llamas, and Braylen Meredith were the standout players who were given a brief spotlight for their exceptional performance on the team over the last season. Meredith’s night got even more special by adding his name to COD history as the 7th player in COD history with 1000 career points.
The visiting Madison Wolfpack are 18-8 but are on a five-game losing streak. The Wolfpack lost to Milwaukee Area Technical College, Rock Valley College, South Suburban College, and Bryant & Stratton. Madison hasn’t won a game since Feb. 4 and is looking to get in shape for the postseason. For the Chaparrals, they are 20-9 and have won their last two games. The Chaps took down the Wolfpack on Feb. 15 at Madison with a score of 77-69. Zielinski led the team in points by dropping 16. Strong and Meredith both had 14 each. COD were down 29-39 in the early stages of the second half, but an 11-1 run closed the gap so they could grab the lead and ultimately win.
The visiting Madison Wolfpack were hopeful to get revenge for what the Chaps did to them on Feb. 15 on the Wolfpacks sophomore night, when COD defeated Madison 77-69. The Wolfpack was itching for revenge and went into this game strong by taking the lead early. The Wolfpack were in front for the majority of the first half, but the tables turned in the second half, where the Chaps defense locked down and ran away with the win. One Chaparal made history on the special night.
Cam Chandler won the tip for COD, delivering possession to Greg Strong. Strong wasted no time and started the scoring with an easy layup. DuPage got a steal on their first defensive possession that led to a corner three by the right hand of Strong. Charles Farrell made a turnaround midrange jumper to add to the box score (8-2). The Wolfpack went on a 10-0 run after JP Pleasant cashed in two times from behind the arc, and a couple layups from Amir Ford (8-12).
The Wolfpack called a timeout with 14:07 left in the first half. After a timeout, COD took the inbound. Braylen Meredith was slapped on the arm while driving down the baseline, but he was unable to make either of the free throws. Jackson Bertagnoli made a three for Madison, but Farrell equaled it on the other side (13-17).
Meredith drove into the lane and made the basket while getting fouled. He would then get to go to the line, where he would make the free throw (16-21). Madison and DuPage traded baskets back and forth; COD kept falling behind by a small margin until DuPage tied the score at 32-32 with a three from Ben Zielinski and a basket from Ramone “Mo” Enis with the foul. Meredith grabbed COD the lead by backing down his defender and putting up an easy layup with 2:04 left in the half (34-32).
The 1st half ended with DuPage going on a 5-0 run after Meredith knocking down a three with the shot clock winding down. With five seconds remaining in the half (40-34), Adyn McGinley turned it back up for two after grabbing the rebound from Meredith’s missed jumper on the last possession in the half.
Coming out of the break, neither team could find the rack. Meredith broke the seal three minutes into the half with a layup. DuPage stopped the Wolfpack on the other side, which led to a Meredith three to go up 11 (45-34). DuPage found themselves in foul trouble, with Strong and McGinley having three each with 12:15 left in the game, so they had to play mindful. With 6:06 remaining in the game, Enis and Strong make big baskets from beyond the arc to increase the lead to 15 points (67-52). With 5:30 left in the game Meredith banged a three from the right wing to finalize the last regular season game with an 81-68 win as well as making history.
“It feels great; my teammates were feeding me the ball. All glory to God, this was one of the goals I had coming in the season, and I accomplished it and now we are looking to make a run into the playoffs,” said Meredith.
Head Coach Joe Kuhn had some comments about Meredith: “[Meredith] had a heck of a game, obviously scoring wise. Other teams game plan around him, and he still can score.”
After the game, Strong now ranks second in COD all-time threes and needs three more to pass the current record holder Ryan Tyszkiewicz (133 threes).
Kuhn also stated, “The thing I was most proud of this game was our defense; I thought our defense was the difference; we executed offensively; our out-of-bounce execution was tremendous. Our effort, Mo, had a great night for us; McGinley off a sprained ankle was outstanding; it’s kind of been different guys every night.”
With this victory, the Chaparrals have now defeated the Wolfpack twice in a row and have 21 wins this season. DuPage will host the first round of the NJCAA Region 4 playoffs on Feb. 27, but the opponent has yet to be determined as of right now.
