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Falcon Pride: SIC walks over Wabash Valley for title

Posted March 07, 2010 10:00 pm

Luis C. Medina

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Mamadou Seck sat on the court and held a trophy as if it were a child.

On the other side of the court, Todd Franklin embraced Isaac McClure.

And in the end, the Southeastern Illinois College men's basketball team embraced a championship moment.

Sophomore Isaac McClure scored 25 points to lead four Falcons in double figures as Southeastern Illinois (22-9) defeated Wabash Valley College 79-67 to clinch the Region XXIV title.

"The biggest thing I feel right now - honest to God - is tremendous pride," Franklin said. "I am so proud of this group of guys because everybody wanted to talk about how bad they were. We had people we played against that laughed at us on the road because we've been so good and weren't good. They set their foot in the ground and became an awfully good basketball team."

Turning tribulations into triumph did not come easy during Sunday night's championship tilt, nor did it come easy this season.

Wabash Valley handed SIC a demoralizing 82-64 loss on Feb. 6, leaving the Falcons with a 13-9 record and a bitter taste in the mouth of a team that had known nothing but success. On Sunday, WVC attempted to put further doubt in the minds of Southeastern and its raucous following of fans as it held a nine-point advantage as the tournament's No. 3 seed asserted itself early.

But as was the case during the team's season-long nine-game winning streak, SIC rallied and rolled.

The Falcons went on a 21-4 spurt that spanned the middle portion of the first half to take a 37-29 lead. Southeastern Illinois went into the locker room with its heads held high and a 43-33 lead in tow as freshman point guard Charles Ashford connected on an acrobatic shot amongst the trees to beat the buzzer.

Ashford finished with 15 points. Troy Long chipped in with 15, and Mamadou Seck added 14 of his own.

Wabash Valley outscored Southeastern Illinois 11-5 in the first four minutes of the second half, prompting Franklin to regroup with a timeout. And the Falcons did just that, responding with a 12-4 run of its own en route to re-taking a double-figure lead.

SIC would hold onto a double-digit lead, which ballooned to as many as 16 points after a monstrous slam dunk from McClure.

From that point on, it was academic and a Falcons team that was once left for dead was alive and prepared to let everyone know about it.

"They didn't get it because it got handed to them, they had to go work and get it. This was just total grit from a bunch of guys that honestly hadn't shown it before," Franklin said. "But they found it when they had to have it. These young men deserve this title. They wanted it more. They worked for it more. They fought for it more than anybody."

Southeastern Illinois College 79, Wabash Valley College 67

Seck 4 6-9 14, Ashford 4 7-7 15, Hickman 1 0-0 2, McClure 10 5-6 25, Jackson 1 0-0 2, Kirksey 3 0-0 6, Long 5 2-4 15. Totals 28 20-26 79.

Halftime - SIC 43-33

3-point field goals: Long 3

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