The Beloit College men's basketball team fell to Illinois College 84-81 in a double overtime thriller in Jacksonville, Illinois Saturday afternoon. 

The teeter-totter battle started right out of the gate. The Buccaneers held the lead for much of the first half but never led by more than seven. A buzzer-beater off the hand of IC's Mason Speer knotted the score at 29-29 at intermission. 

The same type of play continued through the second half as the teams traded small runs and exchanged the lead. Once again the Bucs' advantage hit seven but the scoreboard read 69-69, a tie for the eighth time in the game, at the end of regulation. 

The Blue Boys notched the first three points of the first overtime period on a layup and free throw but the Bucs had a quick answer. Tristan Shoup made good on a Santiago Aguilar assist with a layup and Dan Babb reclaimed the lead for Beloit in their next possession with a three-pointer that made if 74-72 with just under two minutes to go. An offensive drought ensued for Beloit but the Bucs' defense kept IC off the board even through a flurry of offensive opportunities near the rim. With 32 seconds remaining, Speer went up for a layup and missed but the Blue Boys hauled in the offensive board. Trae Robinson III missed a jumper but got his own rebound and was fouled. Robinson III couldn't connect on either free throw and Shoup gathered the rebound on the second opportunity to maintain the Beloit advantage. 

After a couple of Beloit timeouts, Aguilar drew a foul and made good on the first free throw to make it 75-72 with 15 seconds remaining. The second free throw was no good but the Bucs' maintained possession. A turnover with just seconds remaining gave Illinois College the opportunity to tie it up and the Blue Boys capitalized as Sean McDonald dropped in the long ball to knot the score 75-75 and force another five minute stanza. 

The Blue Boys hit a three-pointer to open the scoring in the second overtime and then added a free throw to make it 79-75 with 2:01 left. Robinson III gave IC a six-point lead on a tip-in with 1:15 on the clock. Babb cut the deficit in half with another three ball with just over a minute to go. 

The Bucs fouled with 39 seconds remaining and IC made one of two to make it 82-78 but Shoup came up with a huge three-pointer on Beloit's offensive end to pull the Bucs within one, 82-81 with 30 seconds to go. 

Ten seconds later, the Bucs send Robinson III back to free throw line. He missed the first but dropped in the second. Down two with 19 seconds to go, the Bucs had two looks from beyond the arc the rest of the way but couldn't connect. The Blue Boys added another from the charity stripe in between the two Beloit three-point attempts for the final, 84-81. 

Shoup led all scorers with 30 points on 13-25 from the floor, 2-3 from long range and 2-6 from the charity stripe. He added 11 rebounds for the double-double. Andrew Walters grabbed 21 rebounds, the most since his conference high of 22 against Lawrence on December 8. He added 14 points to tally the double-double, dishing out seven assists and registering two steals in the contest. Babb and Mylan Walters joined Shoup and Walters in double figures with 11 points each. 

Beloit returns to Flood Arena to host Grinnell College Wednesday, January 30. Tipoff is scheduled at 7:30 p.m.