Whether they peaked too soon or were weary from a grinding end-of-the-regular-season schedule, the John A. Logan College men’s basketball team was outplayed from start to finish Friday at Rend Lake College by the Southeastern Illinois Falcons and therefore knocked out of Region 24 tournament play in the semifinal round, 98-74.

SIC advances to the championship game at 7 p.m. Sunday at Rend Lake. The Volunteers finish the 2009-2010 season with an overall record of 24-7, losers of three of their last four games after winning 15 straight in January and February.

Vols head coach Mark Imhoff said a lack of defense was the key to the loss to the Falcons.

“There were times this year when we had some poor defensive evenings and we survived. Obviously, tonight, this may have been one of our worst defensive efforts. We gave up 98. That’s not our game. You’re not going to win at tournament time giving up 98 points.”

Imhoff said SIC played a whale of a game.

“In all honesty, they played harder than we did and they earned it,” he said. “I wouldn’t deny that. They came in and played hard and earned a W. We did an adequate job offensively, but didn’t match it defensively.”

Logan fell behind early and never recovered. Mamadou Seck and Troy Long did most of the damage in the first half as the Falcons built a 46-29 halftime lead.

Seck, a post player, tallied 16 of his 22 points over the first 20 minutes. Long, a guard, hurt the Vols from the perimeter with a trio of 3-point baskets and pair of two-point field goals for 13 of his 19 points. The Saline County boys converted 6-of-11 shots from behind the arc in the first half.

SIC extended the lead to as many as 30 in the second half, quickly killing any momentum the Vols would briefly establish. William Kirksey banged his way through the paint to score 23 points, 17 coming in the second half. Point guard Charles Ashford tickled the twin for 21 points, 15 coming after intermission.

Logan was led by its three mainstays – sophomores Lazeric Jones (23 points), Jesse Perry (18) and Kenny Harris (14), but most of the scoring done by the trio occurred in the second half and after the outcome of the game had long been established.

The contributions were minimal from the remainder of the Vols’ cast. Devonte Maymon, Russell Moore, Andre Clark, Nate Butler, Antwond Roshell and DeMario Hines combined for 19 points.

The only bright spot for Logan was free-throw shooting. The Vols netted an amazing 22-of-25 tosses, a season best.

Imhoff praised his sophomores for their hard work throughout the season, which at least resulted in a conference championship. Besides Jones, Perry and Harris, those who graduate from this year’s team are: Moore, Maymon, Clark and Roshell.

“These seven sophomores have a lot of blood and sweat invested in what we have done over the course of the year,” he said. “They were able to sustain the battle of the league through January and February. By no means, can I say I’m disappointed with this group. I hate to lose. We all do. But tournament basketball comes down to one game and tonight, unfortunately, we lost.

“I’m not going to base four months of basketball, though, on one night’s performance,” Imhoff said. “These kids did an outstanding job (over the long haul). We won some overtime games and some big games on the road. We just didn’t win tonight.”