Blaize of Glory: After scoreless game on Monday, junior guard pours in 46 to tie Culver-Stockton school record

CANTON, Mo. — Jalen Blaize missed all five of his shots and did not score a point Monday in a 78-70 loss at Grand View.

“First time I ever had zero in a game,” he said. “So that was definitely in the back of my mind (on Wednesday).”

He certainly made up for that game 48 hours later at Charles Field House.

Blaize, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., tied the single-game scoring record at Culver-Stockton College with 46 points in a 94-87 victory over Graceland University Wednesday night in a Heart of America Athletic Conference game. Blaize equaled the record established when Ira Toran, a sophomore from Indianapolis, scored 46 in a 103-88 victory against Missouri Baptist on Feb. 26, 1974.

“I actually didn’t know (he tied the school record) until I just came out here to do this interview,” he said. “All the credit goes to my teammates, giving me the ball, believing in me. Just all the credit goes to those guys. … (We’ve been) struggling for a win the last couple of games, so we really needed to dig deep and just get it done today.”

Blaize, a transfer from Central Missouri State, scored 26 points in the second half as the Wildcats (11-4, 2-4 in the Heart) held off a late charge by the Yellowjackets to snap a four-game losing streak. 

His ninth 3-pointer of the game likely was the most important. Culver-Stockton’s biggest lead of the second half was 66-51 with 11:57 remaining, but Graceland rallied to get within 70-63 with 8:37 left to play in the game. A turnover by Blaize led to a fast-break opportunity for the Yellowjackets, but C-SC’s Javon Modester stripped Graceland’s Amir Pettiford on his way to a layup.

Modester then raced up the court and found Blaize for a 3-pointer to pus the C-SC lead back to 10 points. Graceland never got closer than five points thereafter.

Blaize made 14 of 20 shots from the field, including 10 out of 16 from behind the 3-point line. He also made eight of nine fire throws, with six of them coming in the final 25 seconds. He made two free throws with 1.8 seconds remaining to tie Toran’s record.

“Everything you put up feels like it’s going in,” Blaize said. “I didn’t know that I was close to 40. I just kept playing.”

The 10 3-pointers by Blaize were one shy of the school record of 11 set by Francesc Iturria in a game against Graceland in 2016. The Wildcats made a season-high 13 3=pointers in the game.

Junior Jim King added 20 points for Culver-Stockton. Alonzo Ortiz-Traylor, the team’s leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, didn’t score in the first half and was limited to four points in the game. However, he did lead the Wildcats in rebounds with eight.