Late baskets by Gianquinto help JWCC men pick up critical region victory on home floor

QUINCY — An offensive rebound basket by Cachao Gianquinto put the John Wood Community College men’s basketball team ahead with 2:10 remaining in the game, and a layup by Gianquinto moments later provided the cushion necessary to post a 72-68 victory over Lincoln Land Community College on Wednesday night at the Student Activity Center.

The victory improves John Wood’s record to 11-7, and it is 3-1 in Region 24 play. The Trailblazers have won six of their last seven games, with their only loss coming Jan. 20 by two points to nationally ranked Parkland College. Lincoln Land fell to 8-8 and now is 4-1 in region play.

JWCC led 36-31 at halftime and stretched the lead to 45-34 with 16:56 left in the second half. However, a five-minute dry spell by the Trailblazers allowed Lincoln Land to score 12 straight points. A layup by Camren Kincaid with 11:46 remaining in the game put the Loggers ahead 46-45.

The lead switched hands several times over the next few minutes, and the score was tied at 49, 51, 54 and 56 before Lincoln Land’s Jermontre Young made two free throws with six minutes remaining to tie the score at 60. 

“The guys showed a ton of toughness,” JWCC coach Brad Hoyt said. “We didn’t panic (after the 12-point run by Lincoln Land). The guys shared it. We’ve been in that situation before. I think our schedule prepared us well. That doesn’t mean you always win them, but I think as a coach, whether you’re winning or losing, you just don’t want to panic. I didn’t think we did that last night.”

The Trailblazers took the lead at 63-60 on an offensive rebound basket by Joshua Talton and a free throw by Talton, but Lincoln Land regained the lead at 64-63 on Stephan Douglas’ 3-point field goal with 4:02 remaining.

JWCC then held Lincoln Land scoreless for the next three minutes, and Gianquinto came through with the big baskets.

“He’s kind of a downhill physical guy, and he has the talent to make back-to-back plays in the final two minutes,” Hoyt said. “To win games like that, you’ve got to have somebody make a play or two. He and Josh Talton both made some incredible offensive rebounding second-effort plays toward the end of that game that really helped us kind of hang on.”

Douglas made a jump shot with 54 seconds left to get the Loggers within 67-66, and Logan Robbins answered with two free throws for JWCC with 33 seconds left. Jake Wallingford then sealed John Wood’s victory when he blocked Kincaid’s layup with 14 seconds to play, and Jordan Shelton made a layup on the other end.

Shelton made eight of nine shots from the field and scored a team-high 19 points for the Trailblazers. Talton scored 16 points, Gianquinto added 11 and Robbins finished with 10. JWCC outrebounded Lincoln Land 33-24 but turned the ball over 17 times to just eight for the Loggers.

“If you feel like you’re in a region or conference race, you want to feel like you should be in that fight,” Hoyt said. “You’ve got to win the home games. We want to consider ourselves a team capable of being in the fight. It does become an almost must-win when you’re playing at home.”