Olney Central got off to a blistering start by scoring the first nine points of the game. The 9-0 run began on a driving layup from 6'5 Sophomore Jordan Tchuente and then followed by a transition layup by 6'3 Sophomore CE Talton. 6'5 Sophomore Cobie Montgomery then made a three-pointer followed up by another layup from CE Talton.
John A. Logan responded with a 7-0 run of their own scoring on three straight possessions starting with a pair of made free throws by 6'1 Freshman Cam Alford, followed by a transition layup from 6'4 Freshman Dre Boyd, and then a made three-pointer from Cam Alford.
After another made layup by CE Talton, Cam Alford would made another three-pointer for the Volunteers to gain their first lead.
The Blue Knights rebuilt their lead up to as large as nine in the first half. The Volunteers finished the half on a small run and the score at the half time intermission was 35-31 in favor of Olney Central.
In a second half that saw ten lead changes, the Volunteers found themselves up 62-57 before a timeout at the 4:57 mark. Out of the timeout the Blue Knights would force a turnover. On the offensive trip down, 6'8 Sophomore Elijah Farr made a three-pointer off of a pass from CE Talton. The Volunteers responded with an offensive rebound put back from 6'8 Sophomore Sydney Curry. On the ensuing possession, Jordan Tchuente scored on a driving floater to reduce the lead back to two points as Olney Central called a timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Blue Knights secured a steal by 6'3 Freshman Jordan Graham and after multiple rebounds Graham would finish a layup to tie the game 64-64. The Volunteers scored the next possession on a made three-pointer from Cam Alford to regain the lead. After a stop by John A. Logan, Alford was fouled and made one out of two at the free throw line to extend the lead to 68-64. The Blue Knights received a clutch three-pointer by Jordan Graham the next possession before calling timeout with 1:54 remaining. After three straight stops in the game, JJ Kalakon was fouled with 51.8 seconds remaining and made both at the free throw line to take a 69-68 lead before calling a timeout.
After the timeout, Olney Central received a deflection and steal from a diving CE Talton and called a timeout with 10.5 seconds remaining. Talton would get fouled after the timeout and make both free throws at the line to extend the lead to three points. The Volunteers advanced the ball and called a timeout with 7.4 seconds remaining. 6'7 Sophomore Xavier Ball would miss a two point shot on the left baseline before deflecting off of the Blue Knights out of bounds. On the ensuing play, the Volunteers missed a three-pointer to tie the game as time expired.
The final score was 71-68 in favor of Olney Central. The Blue Knights were led by a balanced scoring attack with seven players in double figures: CE Talton (13), Jordan Graham (12), JJ Kalakon (12), Cobie Montgomery (10), Jordan Tchuente (9), Joseph Dalton (8), and Elijah Farr (7). As a team, Olney Central struggled overall from the field shooting only 36.5% but received ten made three-pointers on 38.5% from behind the line.
The Volunteers were led by Cam Alford with 30 points, Xavier Ball with 13 points, and Sydney Curry with 11 points. John A. Logan finished with 18 turnovers compared to the Blue Knights nine turnovers.
The win for Olney Central was their third win against a top 10 nationally ranked opponent this season and moves them to 14-6 and 10-4 in the GRAC.
The Blue Knights next play at Lake Land College in Mattoon, IL on Monday, March 30th at 6 PM.
Head Coach Casey Wyllie on the game: "This was a huge win for our basketball program. John A Logan came in ranked #8 in the country. Logan is extremely talented and really physical. They wanted some payback on us for beating them at their place earlier this year. I thought our guys did a solid job of battling them on the blocks and never giving up on plays. This was a possession by possession game and even when things weren't going our way we stuck with it. I'm very proud of our guys effort."