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 The third quarter saw the Railers turn up the defense, holding
the Wildcats to just four points, while finding their shooting eye,
a trend that carried through the entire second half.
Thanks to the defense, the Railer fans in attendance saw one of
those Railers runs. Lincoln used a 15-1 run in the third quarter to
turn a 26-25 deficit into a 40-27 lead at the end of the quarter.
Most of the offensive damage was turned in by the night's leading
scorers, Kyle Young and Jordan Nelson. Young had eight of his game-high
14 points in the quarter as he showed no fear against the taller
(6-foot-5, 6-foot-8 and 6-foot-10) and bigger inside players from the Wildcats.
When Young wasn't producing on the inside, Nelson was connecting
from long distance or scoring on a layup after a steal.
There was, however, a moment of concern to start the fourth quarter.
Lincoln (22-3) has shown a propensity for not being able to play
with a lead over the past few games. That fact had to creep back as
Normal West (11-12) started the scoring with two 3-pointers to
cut the lead to 40-33. A rare timeout by coach Alexander at the 6:52
mark of the fourth got the Railers back on track and on to the
victory.
The Railers finished shooting 50 percent on the night (21-of-42), but
it was their marksmanship in the second half (11-of-16; 69 percent)
that allowed them to pull away. The defense held West to only 33
percent (6-of-18) shooting after intermission.
As usual in a Lincoln
win, the turnovers played the largest role. Lincoln forced Normal West into 15 turnovers, while committing
only six of their own. Because of those miscues, the Railers were able
to outscore the Wildcats 18-5 in the points-off-turnovers
category.
Lincoln also did a real nice job on the offensive boards
with seven.
Give credit to the coaching staff as well. Normal West was led by
Christian Baker (nine points) and D.T. Thornton (six points) in the first
half. Most of those points came from in the paint. An adjustment in
the Railers' normal defensive set focused a little more attention on
the inside, and those players were held scoreless in the second half.
Normal West proved to be a pest in the first half. After a 3
from Jordan Nelson gave the Railers a 5-2 lead, West scored seven in
a row. However, it was great to see senior Alex Anderson hit two in
a row from 3-point range to cut the game to a 12-11 deficit at
the end of the first quarter.
As previously mentioned, Lincoln was led by Kyle Young. The senior
went 5-of-7 from the field, finishing with 14 points and six
rebounds. Sophomore Jordan Nelson continues to improve in front of
our eyes. Nelson scored 13, had four steals and chipped in with
three assists. Ben Brackney was held to single-digit scoring with
eight but played well inside, with six rebounds, including three on
the offensive end.
Alex Anderson added four assists to his six points on the night.
Nathaniel Smith played well, scoring six as well. Senior Kyle Frick
continues to do the little things that don't show up in box scores
but certainly catch the eyes of fans and the coaching staff. Frick
was able to hit a couple field goals for four points, while Louie Schonauer had a basket during the 15-1 run in the third for his two
points on the night. Wes Neece continued his strong defensive play
but did not score.
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The next important dates for the Railers will be at the end of
this week. On Wednesday, the coaches will make their votes to
seed the teams in the 3A regionals. By Thursday, those seeds
should be released (if Lincoln is not the No. 1 seed at the
Bloomington Regional, there should be an investigation), and on
Friday our friends at the IHSA will release the pairings and
Railer fans can begin to see the road the Railers will have to
take in order to make a return trip to Peoria. The teams in
their regional include Bloomington, Normal U-High,
Mahomet-Seymour, Rantoul and, of course, the Railers.
The Lincoln JV won their contest in overtime 65-61.
Lincoln will be in action again on Friday as they return home to
take on the Cyclones from Sacred Heart-Griffin. The Railers will
be trying to sweep the season series after defeating the
Cyclones 60-42 on Jan. 9 in Springfield. The contest is
scheduled to tip around 7:30 p.m. and, as always, you can catch
the game on WLCN-FM 96.3 and here at
lincolndailynews.com.
___
LINCOLN (53) --
Young 5 4-6 14, Nelson 5 0-0 13, Brackney 4 0-0 8, Smith 2 1-2
6, Anderson 2 0-0 6, Frick 2 0-0 4, Schonauer 1 0-0 2, Neece 0
0-0 0. Team 21 5-8 53.
3-point FG: Team 3 (Nelson 3, Anderson 2,
Smith).
Normal West (41) --
Baker 9, Hallstein 9, Walls 8, Thornton 6, Scheuermann 3, Bell 3,
Stewart 3.
End of first quarter -- Normal West 12, LCHS 11
Halftime -- LCHS 25, Normal West 23
End of third quarter -- LCHS 40, Normal West 27
[Special report by JEFF BENJAMIN]
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