Sports News,  Past Articles,  Mayfield's Mutterings,  Schedules,

Announcements,  Calendar,  Sports News Elsewhere  (fresh daily from the Web)

Thursday, Jan. 30

High school wrestling

[JAN. 30, 2003] 

At Leroy

Leroy 52, Warrensburg-Latham 30

119 lbs:  Ambrose (L) pinned Ross (W), :28

125:  Jay (W) pinned Kagel (L), 1:20

130:  Hobson (W) won by forfeit

135:  Willey (L) major dec. over Bainbridge (W), 18-7

140:  Dunlop (L) pinned Johnson (W), 2:57

145:  Bankson (W) pinned Fike (L), 1:14

152:  Sturm (L) pinned Wilham (W), 2:39

171:  Crumbaugh (L) pinned Brown (W), :53

189:  Jackson (L) pinned Geradot (W), 1:34

215:  Barud (W) pinned Gnagey (L), 3:46

275:  Meinger (W) won by forfeit

Alexander leads Illinois State to first Valley win

[JAN. 30, 2003]  NORMAL -- Casey Reid hit two free throws with 3.3 seconds left in the game to seal Illinois State's victory over Northern Iowa on Wednesday night in front of 5,099 fans at Redbird Arena. The 76-71 decision ended a nine-game losing streak and gave the Redbirds their first Missouri Valley Conference win this season.

Illinois State, 2-15, 1-8 MVC, was led by Gregg Alexander with 17 points. The Redbirds also had four other players in double digits, including Vince Greene with 14 and Marcus Arnold tallying 11.

[Photo by Bob Frank]

Northern Iowa, 5-12, 2-7 MVC, was paced by Chris Foster with 17 points, 15 of which came in the second half. David Gruber chipped in 11 points on four-of-five shooting from the field.

Alexander started the game off hot, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers on the first two possessions of the game, and never cooled down. After Illinois State jumped out to a 23-15 lead in the first half, on the strength of eight points by Alexander, Northern Iowa went on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 23. The Redbirds responded with a 12-4 run to end the half and took a 35-27 lead into the locker room.

[to top of second column in this article]

Illinois State was hot from behind the arc in the first half, shooting 50 percent (five-of-10). However, the 'Birds were not as successful from the charity stripe, as they shot only 25 percent (two-of-eight) from the line in the first frame. Northern Iowa was paced by Matt Bennett and John Little, who each poured in five points in the first half.

Northern Iowa started the second half on a 12-4 run to knot the score at 39. The run was led by guard Chris Foster, who had nine of the 12 points during the run. The teams went back and forth until back-to-back 3s by Kevin Troc and a tough layup by Andy Strandmark put the 'Birds up 57-49. The Panthers battled back to cut the margin to 72-71, but it would not be enough, as the 'Birds hit eight-of-10 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

Illinois State's next game is against arch rival Bradley this Saturday at Redbird Arena. The game is slated to start at 4:02 p.m.

[Todd Kober, director of media relations,
Illinois State University]

Mount Cook erupts

Cook's 26-point second-half blowup lifts Illinois past Michigan 67-60

By Jeff Mayfield

[JAN. 30, 2003]  Can you hear me now? I thought you could. Where’s all the talk about how soft Brian Cook is? Where’s all the talk about how inconsistent Brian Cook is? Where’s all the talk about how Brian Cook disappears at times? Though Cook was held to four first-half points due to some phantom calls, the volcano within him was rumbling so loud I could hear it on press row from the other end of the court!

Neither Illinois coach Self nor his players would reveal what was said at halftime. Nor did we discover what Cook and the coach were discussing during a heated timeout midway through the first half. But whatever happened in those two conversations evidently helped boil the lava burning inside the towering inferno. Because when Cook came out for the second half, he was a man possessed.

[Photo by Tom Seggelke]

I’m not a guy with many regrets in life, but Wednesday night, Jan. 29, might be a night that I will regret for the rest of my life. I probably should’ve taken the night off from my reporter’s role and taken my son to the game. At 2 years old, through no coaching by me, he already knows the implications of how important these Big Ten contests are. He runs through the house as if he was the unflappable U of I PA announcer, Jim Shepherd, and says, "Brian Cook, Brian Cook, Brian Cook" and "GO, Redbirds." (I guess he wants former Railer Gregg Alexander to always get his props, too!)

Well, in the second half of last night’s action I had to pinch myself because I thought maybe someone had brought my son to the game and that he had commandeered the mike. I would’ve sworn that all I heard in the second half actually came over the PA system, "Brian Cook… Brian Cook… Brian Cook and Brian Cook." It was music to every Illini fan’s ears and had to be a miserable death knell to all those Maize and Blue fans (I’ll never understand the attraction to their teams, but then again I bleed orange).

[to top of second column in this article]

Perhaps the coaches said it best:

Self on Cook: He was awesome. That was the best half he has played since I’ve coached. He spun a real negative into a positive. He did it against their man-to-man and against their zone. He showed post moves and hit with his face to the basket. He was terrific.

Amaker on Cook: He was the difference. I was impressed with his tenacity, efficiency and his toughness. He just put his team on his back and carried them to the win.

With Cook mired on the bench for 11 minutes in the first half, the Wolverines had taken a 33-28 lead at the break. And they looked real good doing it. This is a fabulous Michigan team, and there is absolutely no fluke to the fact that they had won 13 straight games and we’re 6-0 in league play.

But little did we, the unsuspecting onlookers, know what was in store for us in the final 20 minutes. We should’ve been tipped off by the smoke coming out of the giant from Lincoln’s ears because… he just exploded. And he exploded all over any Michigan player who got in the lava flow’s wake! Michigan scored 27 points in the second half; Cook had 26 by himself! He was a monster, and a scary monster at that, but so was Mount Saint Helens when it blew its top!

I could tell you all about the stats from this game. I could tell you about the play of one of my new favorite players, James Augustine. Or I could tell you about the outstanding work of Deron Williams.

But this night will always be the night that people remember as the night that Mount Cook erupted!

[Jeff Mayfield]

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'"
• More columns...

Announcements

Back to top

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Calendar

Letters to the Editor