Box Score QUINCY, Ill. – The Parkland men's basketball team were cool, calm and collected at the free throw line all night, shooting 82% from the stripe in a 76-68 win at John Wood Community College on Thursday night. The Cobras have now won seven straight conference games and improve to 8-1 in the M-WAC this season, good for first in the conference. Josh Rivers (23 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals) led the Cobras, who shot 46% from the field and 40% from behind the arc in the win. The win locks up at least a share of the M-WAC conference title for head coach Anthony Figueroa's Cobras.
 
            "These guys stayed together, fought and earned a tough conference win," Coach Figueroa said after the game. "(It's) never easy to get a win at John Wood but our guys were focused. We got big contributions off the bench from (Jordan) Jenkins and (Marcus) Johnson."
 
Cobras (17-7) (8-1) got off to a fast start in Quincy and led 9-7 after a Josh Rivers three-point-play with 16:50 to go in the half. The Blazers (16-12) (5-4) retook the lead and stretched it all the way out to nine points at 26-17 with 7:40 remaining, but Parkland battled back and led 39-38 at halftime. The second half, much like the first, remained close throughout in a game that featured 13 lead changes and six ties. An 8-3 run by John Wood put the Blazers up 57-56 with 9:01 to go, but the Cobras retook a 62-61 lead three minutes later after a Josh Rivers layup. Parkland never let the lead go after that, as the Cobras forced turnovers and hit clutch free throws down the stretch. Marcus Johnson hit two from the line with 24 seconds left to make the score 76-68 and the Cobras coasted to their eighth conference win of the season.
 
Scoring Summary:
Josh Rivers: 23 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals
Sean Ealy: 18 points, 6 rebounds, 2 steals
Savon Wykle: 14 points, 4 rebounds
A'Kieon Gill: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists
 
Up next, the Cobras will head to Springfield to face Lincoln Land Community College in their regular-season finale on Saturday, February 26th. Tip-off against the Loggers is scheduled for 3:00 PM.