When Elgin Community College guard Chris Benjamin stepped back Thursday and drilled a 3-pointer from the side with 11:26 to play, the Spartans’ path to victory looked clear.
In this case, looks were deceiving.
A cold spell from the field and free-throw line followed, and visiting Joliet took advantage to deal NJCAA Division III second-ranked Elgin its first loss, 77-67.
“We struggled shooting,” Benjamin said. “It took a toll today.
“I don’t think we were there mentally tonight either. We didn’t play hard, we didn’t play smart, we didn’t play together, and it cost us.”
Benjamin, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, finished with a team-high 18 points, while teammate Homer Denson had 13 and Charles Sanders added 12 points. But the Spartans (12-1) made 1-for-11 in a stretch of 7 1/2 minutes after Benjamin’s 3-pointer, and seventh-ranked Joliet (14-2) made the most of it.
“Give Joliet credit,” ECC coach Reed Nosbisch said. “As soon as they took us out of what we were doing, we looked lost offensively.”
Playing for the first time in 19 days, the Spartans made 36 percent (25-for-70) and went 8-for-19 at the free-throw line.
“Not to make excuses, but the 19 days didn’t help — but they were off 10 days, too,” Nosbisch said. “I felt at the point in the second half when we had a five-point lead, all the sudden it was an offensive funk.
“We’ll work on it. It’s not like we lost to a team that wasn’t very good. It just shows we belong where we are, but we’ve got to get better because we’re not at the top.”
The lead on Benjamin’s 3-pointer was 57-52 with 11:36 remaining. Led by Robert Brooks’ game-high 20 points, Joliet then had a 19-4 surge to take control.
A pair of 3-pointers by Clinton Berhow started Joliet’s tear, and he finished with 19 points.
“They were penetrating well,” Benjamin said. “Then they threw it back out. They played together and they beat us.”
ECC bounced back from a 41-34 deficit early in the second half to gain the lead, but couldn’t maintain consistency on either side of the ball.
“We had stretches where it felt like we were locked in offensively, but just defensively we then made too many mistakes,” Sanders said.
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The loss could prove costly later in postseason seeding because Joliet was the second-ranked Division III team in Illinois behind ECC. The Spartans face the team ranked third in the state and eighth overall at 3 p.m. Saturday when they travel to play defending national champion Rock Valley.
“It’s something we’ve got to bounce back from,” Sanders said. “It’s something we’ve got to look at and learn from.
“It’s better it happened now than in the playoffs.”
ECC in January turns its attention to defending its Skyway Conference title.
“We had a great crowd, maybe best of the season,” Nosbisch said. “I wish we could have sent them off better.”
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