In a nail-biting, hair-raising, comeback spectacular, the Prairie Stars finished off the Pumas of Saint Joe’s on Saturday.

In a game that was tied 10 times, and had the lead change hands 10 times, it was only fitting that the opening play of the first possession was an alley-oop to the Prairie Star’s own Jacob Williams, a junior guard.

The first half could be described as a defensive struggle, as UIS shot only 39.4 percent from the floor, and Saint Joseph’s 35 percent The Prairie Stars looked a bit lackluster in the first, missing all five of their 3-point attempts, and shooting only three of eight from the free-throw line.

Saint Joseph’s managed to convert on six 3-pointers, on an attempted 21. That, and the missed free throws by UIS, contributed to the 7-point lead at halftime. Junior Dylan Sparkman had a productive first half down in the post. The UIS forward made five of his eight shots and recorded one offensive and two defensive rebounds. His presence down low certainly helped his team record a healthy 26 points in the paint in the first, to Saint Joseph’s 14.

The second half was not a defensive struggle. Of the 10 lead changes, nine of them occurred in the second half, and UIS shot 60 percent from the field, while the Pumas shot 50 percent After back-to-back turnovers to start the second half, the Prairie Stars bounced back strongly with two defensive stops, and closed the gap within minutes, much to the chagrin of the Saint Joseph’s head coach, and much to the delight of the raucous crowd in attendance at TRAC.

As their lead diminished, the Saint Joe’s coaching staff employed a full-court trap defense for the remainder of the game. The trap was well evaded by the Prairie Stars, due to Coach Ben Wierzba’s preparation. Senior guard Brandon Snowden said “We work on the traps in practice… When our guy leaves to go on the trap we’ve got to help our man out and make an outlet pass.”
“Usually there’s a guy open,”  he added.

After not scoring a single point in the first, sophomore Jamall Millison was unfazed. The UIS guard knocked down four of five of his 3-pointers in the second, and was a huge part of securing the win. After a tenacious defensive rebound by point guard Kentrell King, junior, he was trapped on the baseline, prompting the heads-up timeout call by Wierzba. On the inbound, Millison caught a deep pass and went from half-court all the way to the rack, converted the layup through a hard foul for a chance to trim the lead to 3. Millison missed the free throw, but UIS managed to snatch up the rebound and get the ball back to Millison on a pass at the top of the arc. He then promptly knocked down a fadeaway 3-pointer to bring the lead within one.

Following this sequence, Puma’s guard Cameron Vines put in a mid range jumper to increase the lead to three, but Snowden closed it out with a put-back off an offensive rebound, and two game winning free throws. Williams praised Snowden for “always being the last one to shoot,” referring to his free throw shooting in practice.

With 7.5 seconds remaining, Vines ran down the court and lost control, falling to the floor and being called for a travel, ending the game

The Prairie Stars go on the road to Evansville, Indiana for their next game on Jan. 30.