HARRISBURG, Ill. - The SIC men's basketball team grinded out a 101-96 win over regional foe West Kentucky Community and Technical College on Wednesday at Haws Gymnasium in Paducah.

"I'm proud of our guys," SIC head coach Sam Swinford said. "WKCTC is a tough place to play. They're well-coached and physical and you're going to get their best shot every time you step on their floor. I'm really proud of our guys for finding a way to grind out another win on the road. I feel like we showed a lot of maturity early in the year tonight."

SIC jumped out to a 22-9 lead in the game's first seven minutes; but an eventual run by the Stars led to both teams trading scores for most of the first half. The Falcon offense showed its highest output in a half in the first twenty minutes scoring 48 points quickly.

The Falcons came alive early again in the second half with a quick 17-0 run in the first four minutes. Sophomores Brandon Anthony and Jermarco Burse Jr. came out of the locker room with high motors causing several Stars turn overs which led to easy buckets for the Falcons during the run. This four-minute span gave the Falcons their largest lead of the game and they held the advantage for the entire second half.

"Our sophomores showed a lot of maturity tonight," Swinford said. "We challenged them before the game to be the more poised team and down the stretch we were. We executed on both ends when it mattered and that was on the shoulders of our seven sophomores tonight."

Sophomore Brandon Anthony led the Falcons with 25 points and 9 assists. He was followed in scoring by sophomore Noah Curry with 18. Freshman Amari Wales and Sophomore Devin Rankin added 13 points apiece.

Sophomore Jermarco Burse chipped in 12, Sophomore Amir Spann and Freshman Jake Vaughn both had 8, and Sophomore Kaleb Ramer had 4 to round out the scoring. Bryce Simpson did not score but came up big securing eight rebounds and blocking two shots before eventually fouling out. Newcomer Eli Mackey also saw action in the first half.

As a team, the Falcons shared the ball well totaling 24 assists on the night. The defense forced 23 turnovers including 18 steals. SIC was also dominate on the boards with 40 rebounds.

UP NEXT: The Falcons will head north on Friday to play Lakeland College in Mattoon in a junior college match-up. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. in Mattoon. A quick turnaround will take the team to Concordia-St. Louis on Saturday for a 2 p.m. contest.