SPRINGFIELD, IL – William Jewell College propelled past the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) men's basketball team with an 84-69 victory during Saturday's Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) matchup.
 
After leading 41-39 at the half, the Cardinals (18-6, 8-6) outscored the Prairie Stars (14-10, 6-8) 43-30 in the second half. William Jewell's starting five compiled a total of 72 points.
 
"They're really good," UIS coach Bill Walker said. "They're stronger in person than they look on film. Their size bothered us. Obviously, their shot-making bothered us too. I thought we were in a position where our depth would start helping us, but they hit that run in the early part of the second half. They just come at you in a lot of different ways. For whatever reason, we came out flat. We did not have the same energy as we did on Thursday and that is to William Jewell's credit and not ours."
 
The Cardinals knocked down 30-of-67 (44.8 percent) shots from the field and 12-of-35 (34.3 percent) attempts from 3-point range. UIS hit 27-of-67 (40.3 percent) attempts from the floor and 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) shots from behind the arc.
 
William Jewell entered the game ranked No. 10 among NCAA Division II leaders with a 77.8 free-throw percentage. UIS kept William Jewell off the free-throw line in the first half as William Jewell found the charity stripe 13 times throughout the game. The Cardinals sank 12-of-13 (92.3 percent) shots from the free-throw line while UIS made just 7-of-13 (53.8 percent) attempts from the charity stripe.
 
"Of all of William Jewell's good qualities, they don't get to the free-throw line a lot. Neither team got in the bonus in the first half, but we only went 7-for-13 from the free-throw line, so that wasn't good enough."
 
Collin Stallworth led the Prairie Stars with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Aundrae Williams contributed 10 points, five assists and three steals. Vince Walker turned in nine points. Eddie Longmeyer added eight points. Lijah Donnelly produced seven points. Bahari Amaya and Kaj Days scored three points apiece. Logan Gonce, Zach Steinberg, CJ Payawal and Chidi Ngwe rounded out the UIS scoring effort with two points each.
 
Patrick Whelan paced the Cardinals with 22 points, including 19 in the first half. Whelan also collected three steals. Pharroh Gordon provided 17 points, 13 rebounds and four assists. Keith Hayes put together 17 points. Byron Harp notched 11 points and Eysan Wiley blocked two shots.
 
William Jewell held a 41-38 advantage over UIS on the boards as well as a 15-6 advantage on second-chance points.
 
The Prairie Stars turned the ball over 14 times while the Cardinals committed 15 turnovers.
 
UIS started with an 11-6 lead with 15 minutes, 27 seconds left in the first half. William Jewell sparked a 21-2 run during the next 5:15, which included five 3-pointers. The Prairie Stars responded with a 9-0 run of its own. UIS cut its deficit to as small as two points before William Jewell extended its lead to 41-31 with 2:14 left in the half. The Prairie Stars scored the final eight points of the half, which included a buzzer-beating 75-footer from Stallworth.
 
UIS tied the game at 41-all to start the second half, but William Jewell strung together a 24-5 run to propel away from the Prairie Stars. The Cardinals led by as many as 24 points in the second half before capturing the 15-point victory.
 
"We were down two at half and William Jewell is a dangerous team. They got up too far, we had too big of a mountain to climb and you just have to be perfect when you're playing a veteran team. It's really disappointing. As high as were on Thursday, we're that low on Saturday and all of that's to William Jewell's credit."
 
With four conference games remaining, UIS ranks 10th in the GLVC Point Rating System among teams eligible for the GLVC Tournament. The Prairie Stars are scheduled for two GLVC matchups next week. UIS takes on Quincy University (7-17, 3-12) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in TRAC. The Prairie Stars then battle the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) (12-11, 7-7) on Saturday at 3 p.m. in St. Louis, MO.