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Wednesday, Jan. 29

High school basketball

[JAN. 29, 2003] 

Boys

At Normal

Olympia             15   21   30     40

Normal West     16   26   39     52

Olympia:  Schmidgall 4-0-10, Williams 1-0-2, Olson 2-0-4, Kieser 3-2-9, Criswell 3-0-6, Thornto 1-0-3, Schultz 0-0-0, Boudeman 2-0-4, Springer 1-0-2.  Totals 17-2-40.  Three-pointers:  Schmidgall 2, Kieser 1, Thornton 1.

Preliminary game:  Olympia def. Normal West. 52-43.

Others

Illini Central def. Springfield Ursuline 75-56.

Mount Pulaski def. Midwest Central 63-51.

Girls

At Lincoln

Normal Community     14   23   30     39

Lincoln                        10   15   24     31

Lincoln:  Ingram 2-2-7, Whalen 0-2-2, Carey 2-0-6, Hoffert 1-3-5, Robbins 1-0-2, Presswood 1-3-5, Carmitchel 2-0-4.  Totals 9-10-31.  Three-pointers:  Carey 2, Ingram 1.

Junior varsity:  Lincoln def. Normal Community 37-30.

High school wrestling

[JAN. 29, 2003] 

At Stanford

Petersburg Porta 37, Olympia 27

103 lbs:  Steve Fluty (O) dec. Rob Thomas (P), 11-3

112:  Caleb Dietrich (O) dec. Rob Holcomb (P), 21-4

119:  Bryan Yale (P) pinned Chris Alexander (O), :49

125:  Mario Martinez (O) pinned Brian Ramsay (P), 4:21

130:  John Bultman (P) dec. Alan DeLoriea (O), 9-2

135:  Jordan Stott (P) dec. A.J. Burns (O), 9-1

140:  Adam Shappelman (O) won by forfeit

145:  Mike Armstrong (P) dec. Todd McGuire (O), 16-1

152:  Luke Downing (P) pinned Austin Brand (O), 5:31

160:  Trevor Kaufman (O) dec. Adam Brown (P), 5-3 OT

171:  Tim Morthland (O) dec. Dusty Rademaker (P), 10-6

189:  Josh Downing (P) pinned Ray Henderson (O), :47

215:  Vince Hudspeth (P) dec. Adam Troll (O), 8-3

275:  Brett McCoy (P) dec. Brian Siscoe (O), 18-4

LCC vs. St. Louis College of Pharmacy

[JAN. 29, 2003]  Lincoln Christian lost at home Tuesday evening to St. Louis College of Pharmacy, 84-59, after trailing 36-29 at halftime.

Kyle Rogier led LCC with 15 points and nine rebounds.

For St. Louis (12-8), Adam Thacker put in 33 points and had five steals.

The Preachers are now 7-15 heading into the weekend, when they host the LCC tourney. They will play Friday and Saturday night at 8.

[Aaron Johnson]

Cook on 'holy ground'

By Jeff Mayfield

[JAN. 29, 2003]  Lincoln native Brian Cook has entered a new fraternity. That's right…he's now a member of Illinois' all-time top 10 scorers' frat! With his 11-point showing at Happy Valley last Saturday, Cook moved into sole position as the 10th leading scorer in all of Illini history!

To give you some perspective on what Brian has accomplished, I took the liberty to contact Illinois Sports Information Director Kent Brown. I asked Brown how many players have actually donned the orange and blue over the years. According to the SID, the Illini have had 404 letter winners since that first season back in 1905-06. There are probably hundreds of others who played but never lettered. And to think that Brian is among the 10 best to have ever played at the University of Illinois is no small accomplishment indeed.

[Photo by Ed Bacon]

Yet to be left in his wake are players like Dave Scholz, Nick Weatherspoon, Efrem Winters, Andy Kaufmann, Mark Smith, Eddie Johnson, Cory Bradford, Kiwane Garris and the No. 1 scorer of all time, Deon Thomas. Cook has already passed people like Frank Williams, Kendall Gill, Ken Norman, Doug Altenberger, Bruce Douglas, Anthony Welch, Kevin Turner and Nick Anderson.

The LDN sports staff is hoping that Cook remains healthy and productive and hopes to see Brian among the top five all-time scorers before he ends his illustrious career. Not bad for a kid that many labeled soft and inconsistent. Nice going, Brian. Your friends here at the LDN salute you!

Cook and his Illini teammates host Michigan Wednesday night at 7!

[Jeff Mayfield]

Redbirds schedule 'Lincoln Day'

[JAN. 29, 2003]  NORMAL -- The Illinois State men's basketball game versus Indiana State has been tabbed "Lincoln Day." The game is slated for Saturday, Feb. 8, at 2:05 p.m. Special ticket prices are available for Lincoln residents who come out and support their local star, Redbird sophomore Gregg Alexander.

Several businesses in the Lincoln area are providing an easy way to purchase tickets for the Missouri Valley Conference matchup with the Sycamores. Tickets are available at Woods and Bates; Jim Xamis, Ford, Lincoln and Mercury; Mount Pulaski Pharmacy and Coy's Car Corner.

Tickets can also be bought through the ticket office at Redbird Arena or by calling (309) 438-8000.

If purchased by Wednesday, Feb. 5, tickets are only $3.

Come support your local star and Redbird basketball on Lincoln Day at Redbird Arena.

[Erica Fricke, assistant director of media relations, Illinois State University]

ISU/ISU trip gets Creighton's attention

[JAN. 29, 2003]  NORMAL -- Creighton coach Jim Flanery admits that the Illinois State-Indiana State road swing which the eight other Missouri Valley Conference teams have to make has a different look now than before the season. Indiana State was picked to finish seventh, and Illinois State was picked ninth. With Indiana State leading the league and Illinois State winning three of its last four, Flanery is concerned as he brings his team to Redbird Arena for a 7:05 p.m. Thursday match with the Redbirds.

"A lot of people didn't think, before the season, that this would be that tough a trip," said Flanery, whose Bluejays are 12-4 overall, 5-2 in the Valley. "But Indiana State is playing extremely well, and Illinois State has good depth and experienced guards."

Flanery's team, favored to repeat as Valley champions, lost just two league games last year, and one of them was at Illinois State -- a 64-57 overtime decision televised on Fox Sports Net in which the Birds limited the Bluejays to 22.9 percent field goal shooting. But both coaches agree that pressure -- and how it's handled -- is the key component in this game.

"Last year, they had an off shooting night, and that's not typical of them," said Yopp, whose Redbirds are 5-11 overall, 3-4 in the Valley and riding a two-game win streak. "The key thing against Creighton is handling their pressure. Handling the ball is critical, particularly early in the game."

Flanery believes the development of perimeter players like Taren O'Brien, Jaci McCormack, Katie Donovan and Stacey White makes Illinois State tougher to press. O'Brien believes she and her teammates are executing the game plan better.

[to top of second column in this article]

"Our coaches do a great job preparing us," said O'Brien. "If we take care of the ball and execute our offense and defense, we can be successful against any Valley opponent. We have to be focused for any opponent."

Taking better care of the ball has been a key for a Redbird team that has won three of its last four. In those four games, Illinois State and its opponents each averaged 17 turnovers per game. Prior to that, the Redbirds were averaging seven more turnovers than their opponents.

"With the way we press, we'd rather play somebody with inexperienced guards and no depth," said Flanery, who spent 10 years as a Creighton assistant before succeeding Connie Yori as head coach prior to this year. "Our style is to wear teams down, and I don't think we can do that against Illinois State."

Creighton goes from Illinois State on Thursday to Indiana State on Sunday for another game broadcast by Fox Sports. The Redbirds host Drake in a special 7:30 p.m. start on Saturday at Redbird Arena.

[Thomas Lamonica,
 Illinois State University]

Articles from the past week

By Jeff Mayfield

[JAN. 27, 2003]  To any Lincoln or Logan County serviceman or woman who has just been deployed, may we just say, "May GOD go with you." You have our deepest respect as well as our thoughts and prayers. A special hello to former Railer Jon Barton who is on his way to Kuwait.

Once again the Super Bowl failed to live up to all the hype, as this game was all Bucs from start to finish. Don't know why the Raiders went away from their forte. Notice that on their first several drives, after gaining five or six yards on first-down plays, they would run the ball up the middle on second downs, thus leaving them with third-and-four or five situations that needed perfect execution. Either credit the Bucs' defense or the Raiders' ineptitude. Former Lincoln resident Curt Swan, now a Bucs' season-ticket holder, is still dancing on the streets of Clearwater Beach as we go to post!!!

As you can see by the updated CS8 standings, the Lincoln Lady Railers are also making their move up the charts of girls basketball in our area. Ever since the Christmas tourney, these ladies have been on a mission. Here's to a successful venture!

Central State Eight standings

(Conference games)

Southeast 7-1

Taylorville 7-3

Chatham Glenwood 7-3

Springfield 6-2

Lincoln 5-5

Sacred Heart-Griffin 4-6

Jacksonville 2-8

Lanphier 0-10

Upcoming game: Tuesday, Jan. 28, 7:30 p.m. -- Normal Community at Lincoln

The Lincoln College Lynx are definitely finding their stride early in the second semester. Behind 15 points from both Terrance Chapman and Jamaal Thompson, the Lynx buried Lincoln Land Saturday 74-51. Michael Fowler also tossed in 13 for the Lincoln cause. The win takes LC to 13-6 and a sparkling 6-0 in league play.

No report.

…picked up another win over Grace over the weekend and have now won two in a row!

OK, maybe I was a little too stoked over the Railers the last couple of weeks. If you want to blame me for their less-than-stellar performances against Chatham-Glenwood and Taylorville, so be it. But good teams find ways to win when they're not playing all that well. However you slice it and dice it, Lincoln went 5-0 and won the first-ever midwinter classic in Chatham. We think that's a good thing and can only help the Railers ready themselves for a potential long run in the postseason. Getting Brock Werner back to full strength wouldn't hurt either.

[Photo by Bob Frank]

Railer coach Neil Alexander is quietly within a handful of wins of becoming the winningest Railer coach in history… Stay tuned for that story! Also, in case you haven't been doing the math at home the last two years… Did you know that Lincoln, not Lanphier or Springfield, is the CS8 all-time leader in most wins?

[to top of second column in this article]

Teams	Won	Lost	Pct.
Lincoln	104	28	.788
Springfield	92	39	.697
Springfield Lanphier	81	51	.614
Springfield Southeast	81	52	.609
Jacksonville	50	80	.385
Springfield S-H Griffin	47	85	.356
Chatham-Glenwood	36	95	.275
Taylorville	35	96	.267

These are the all-time CS8 standings through Jan. 16 of this year. This is a true testament to our hardworking players and outstanding coaches. Hopefully the Railers will put in some more distance on their opponents before this season is out!

Speaking of records:

Railer varsity 21-2

Sophs 6-4

Frosh 9-3

B 7-1

Railer assistant coaches Eric Ewald, Josh Komnick, Darren Worth and Ryan Cross continue to do a phenomenal job with this program under Alexander's tutelage. Nice going, men. Keep up the good work!

Mount Pulaski 14-6

The Hilltoppers beat a good Delavan team 72-48, welcoming back Brian Clements, who had 14 points on the night. And how ‘bout Justin Anderson's 38-point outburst against Athens this past week?!

Illini Central 11-6

The Cougars lost a heartbreaker to Riverton and fell to 11-6. They host Ursuline on Tuesday night.

Hartem 8-8

The Stags also lost a nail-biter to Beardstown.

Warrensburg-Latham 16-0

The Cardinals dumped Shelbyville 80-53 and carry a No. 5 state ranking!

West Lincoln-Broadwell took the eighth-grade county title with a 46-35 win over previously unbeaten Hartsburg-Emden. Carroll Catholic outlasted Mount Pulaski for third place.

In the seventh-grade grade county championship Hartsburg did overtake WL-B and Carroll repeated their performance over Mount Pulaski as the seeds held true.

Lincoln Junior High won their last regular-season contests as well. The eighth-graders pounded Argenta 50-34, and the seventh-graders eked past ‘em 34-32!

…will face Springfield-Southeast and Jacksonville on Tuesday.

Join Greg Taylor at 6 p.m. on the LDN's live link or on CITV 5 or FIX 96.3. He hopes to host a contingent of Railer seniors and also hopes to give away some FREE college basketball tickets! Dial 735-3306 to get in on the FUN!

…To those of you who have wished me well in the economic development arena. Know that I won't be able to get the job done without YOUR help. Hopefully TOGETHER we can accomplish some good things.

Have a GREAT week, everybody!

[Jeff Mayfield]

• Last week: "Railers keep rollin'"
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