By MATT KING/Daily Journal Sports Writer

Published: Saturday, November 27, 2004
Updated: Friday, November 26, 2004 11:43 PM CST

PARK HILLS - The Mineral Area College men's basketball team exhibited timely shooting, steady defense and patience on offense at home on Friday night. A 14-4 run in the closing minutes helped the Cardinals pull away from the Illinois Central Cougars for an 84-77 victory at the MAC Thanksgiving Classic.

Both teams kept their turnovers to a minimum, but fouls were plentiful, especially in the second half. Illinois Central collected its 10th team foul at the midway point of the latter stanza, leading to several opportunities at the free-throw line for MAC. The Cardinals made 23-30 attempts from the charity stripe in the contest.

Curtis Muse opened the game with a dunk for the Cardinals after spinning along the baseline, and would later add a spectacular one-handed finish to an alley-oop pass from Ryan Byrne.

Byrne drilled two consecutive three-point shots to give MAC an early 10-5 lead. It was just the start of another strong performance for the sophomore from Troy, Illinois. Quick ball movement led to an easy basket inside for Rob Kennedy, just before Dantwan Chillers turned a steal into a layup to extend the margin to 20-11.

Illinois Central (1-5) used some long-range accuracy of its own to make up the early deficit. Back-to-back triples from Rodney Edgerson and Kevin Riley evened the score at 22-22 with 10:25 left before halftime. Both clubs connected on six three-pointers in the first half.

The Cougars erased another five-point deficit before moving ahead 36-32 on a tough running bank-shot by Justin Giles, but Mineral Area (5-2) promptly answered with three-pointers from Gary Somerville and Kenny Burke to go back in front. The Cardinals carried a 41-40 lead into the break.

A triple from Raun Singleton of Illinois Central sparked a series of nine lead changes over the opening 5:00 of the second half as the teams traded scoring strikes.

MAC trailed 60-56 with under 11:00 to play when the action came to a crashing halt. Aaron Jackson was knocked to the floor on a layup attempt by the Cougars' Phil Russell, and stayed down for a couple of minutes. No flagrant foul was called and Jackson later returned to action, but the Cardinals seemed even more resolved to win following the incident.

Chillers outran the Cougars for a transition layup to even the score at 60-60. Muse tipped in a missed shot two possessions later to put the Cardinals ahead by three points. Byrne drilled his fourth and final triple on the next trip down the floor to give the home team a 70-64 edge.

The Mineral Area defense consistently turned away the frustrated Cougars down the stretch. A baseline jumper by Somerville extended the margin to nine points with 2:30 to go, and Chillers hit 5-6 free throws in the final moments to seal the outcome.

Byrne posted a season-high 25 points to lead all scorers, and also pulled down seven rebounds. Chillers chipped in 14 points while Muse added 10 points with nine boards for the Cardinals. Jackson and Burke scored eight points each.

Four Illinois Central players reached double-figures in scoring, led by Edgerson with 16 and Chris Tarpley with 13. Russell hit four three-pointers to finish with 12 points and Singleton added 11.

Action continues this afternoon at the MAC Thanksgiving Classic, beginning at 1 p.m. with Illinois Central facing Meramec. Mineral Area will battle Dyersburg State at 3 p.m. Meramec defeated Dyersburg State 88-67 on Friday.