So far, the ride with Aaron Rolle as men's basketball coach at Morton College through his first four games has been a series of cliffhangers.

The latest episode again went down to the wire with the Panthers coming away a 66-63 winner over Bryant and Stratton November 16th at the Henry J. Vais Gymnasium in Cicero.

The game came down to Morton College's Joffery Brown and Bryant's Brian Bearden trading baskets in the final minute. After Brown got up after being knocked to the floor to grab a long rebound, he made a pair of free throws with 8.5 seconds left that all but seemingly secured Morton College's second straight win at 64-61.

Bearden, who earlier responded to Brown's two free throws with a three-pointer that gave Bryant a 61-60 lead, was fouled attempting another three with 3.9 seconds remaining.
He made the first two, then missed the game-tying third. Tyric Edwards grabbed the rebound and added two free throws.

Bearden responded by drawing iron on a buzzer-beating three that ended the game.

Morton College received another solid performance from its three-guard tandem of Brown (22 points), Mason Vires (16) and McReynolds (11). They were responsible for Morton College's fast start at 10-4 as well as helping the Panthers open up a 10-point lead at 45-35 in the second half.

"This was one of the first times we came out with a sense of urgency and started quick," Rolle said. "We didn't play with the lead as a front-runner as I would have liked. But the guys did a real good job of continuing to play for stops on defense. We did a good job of weathering the storm, plus we made our free throws."

The Panthers were 14 of 18 from the line with a 6-of-6 showing in the last 30 seconds. Morton College made its last eight free-throw attempts as well.

Morton College cracked the win column for the first time in the 2017-18 season with an 89-79 win at Wright November 14th. McReynolds led the way with 24 points, followed Brown's 21 and Vires' 18.

The Panthers head to Rockford to face D-3 powerhouse Rock Valley Saturday, November 18th. Rock Valley, 4-1 this season, has won national titles in 2014 and 2016.

"They've won a couple of national championships in the last few years," Rolle said. "It will be a real big test for us."