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 The win over Glenwood was their most difficult of the week.
Glenwood jumped out to an early 9-4 lead to end the first quarter,
thanks to patient offense for the Titans and dismal shooting from
Lincoln, making only one field goal.
Baskets from Jordan Nelson and Ben Brackney pulled the Railers to
within one at 9-8, but Glenwood scored again to move up by three. A
three-point play from Kyle Young tied the game at 11. Lincoln took
their first lead of the night on a 3-pointer from one of the
unlikeliest of sources, Wes Neece.
On a team filled with known shooters, the senior's outside shot
seemed to give the Railers the momentum they needed going into the
locker room. Not to say that Neece is not a good shooter, but most
of his contributions are evident on the defensive end.
"I think when
Wes hit that 3, that really helped us calm down a little," Lincoln coach
Neil Alexander said. "When we got the lead, we seemed to relax."
That momentum was quickly taken as Glenwood hit a 3 to open the
half and tie the game at 14. However, in a very defensive game, the
Railers were able to put together one run, and it was enough.
Lincoln scored 15 of the next 17 points to take a 29-16 lead.
Although, it appeared as though the Railers had finally taken
control of the game, the homestanding Titans had one final push,
going on their own 13-4 run to get as close as they would for the
rest of the night at 33-29. A basket from Jordan Nelson and a couple
of free throws from Nathaniel Smith ended the scoring as Lincoln
picked up the eight-point win.
"I am so pleased, because we have been preaching and preaching that
you have to win with defense, and tonight just proved, " Alexander
said. "Maybe now they will understand what we've been saying."
Lincoln held Glenwood to single-digit scoring in the first three
quarters, including a lone basket in the second quarter. The main
offensive weapons from Glenwood, Cody Traina from the outside and
Mitch Falter on the inside, were held to just eight points.
The Railers were led by Kyle Young and his 14 points. The senior
bulled his way around the basket and took advantage of the size
matchups presented him by Glenwood. Jordan Nelson finished with
seven and Ben Brackney had six. Wes Neece and Alex Anderson each had
three, while Louis Schonauer and Nathaniel Smith chipped in with
two.
Lincoln placed three players on the all-tournament team, with Ben Brackney, Kyle Young and tournament-MVP Jordan Nelson.
"I don't
know if he wanted to win MVP, because now we're not going to let him
forget how good he can be, but he had a solid tournament and
deserved it,” Alexander said.
Nelson is in good company as the last Railer to pick up top honors was Matt Schick
in 2007.
The Railers started the day with a much less stressful contest
against Jacksonville, winning by the same 60-41 score that they had
earlier in the year at The Bowl. Lincoln again clamped down
defensively in the first scoring, allowing only five points while
building a 15-5 lead by the end of the first quarter.
However, the Crimsons were able to put together their own run,
scoring 10 in a row to pull to within 17-15. The halftime score of
21-17 was certainly a lot closer than fans thought it should have
been, as the game seemed well in hand early in the game.
In the third
quarter, it was shades of Brandon Farmer as Jordan Nelson took over.
The sophomore, held to a single basket in the first half, went off,
scoring the first six points of the quarter and 11 of the team's
18 points as the Railers pushed ahead to a 39-26 lead.
[to top of second column] |
Another sophomore, Nathaniel Smith, added four more in the
quarter, and they were not the only second-year players with big
contributions. Thanks to foul trouble from Kyle Young and Kyle
Frick, Brant Coyne saw some time and was able to help the Railers
stretch their lead while he was on the floor. Coyne should have
scored a couple of points, but his nice reverse layup was waved off
after a traveling call that we are all trying to understand just
where the infraction happened.
Nelson and Smith continued their assault on the Crimsons in the
fourth, combining to score 13 more points. For the game, the
sophomores combined to score 30 points, with 28 of them coming after
intermission.
A 13-6 run late gave the Railers a 20-point lead, and they again finished
the game winning by 19, the exact margin and score from Jacksonville
in early December.
Nelson led the Railers with 20, while Smith had
10. Alex Anderson and Louis Schonauer each scored eight, Kyle Young
added seven, and Ben Brackney had five. Wes Neece played his usual
hounding defense and was able to score a fourth-quarter basket for
his only points of the game.
Lincoln will be in action again on Friday, traveling to
Springfield to take on Southeast in a game both teams have had
circled on their calendars since the schedule was released. The Railers head into
the game with a one-game lead in the conference. 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 (60) --
Nelson 8 2-2 20, Smith 3 4-4 10, Schonauer 3 0-0 8, Anderson 3 0-0
8, Young 2 3-4 7, Brackney 2 0-0 5, Neece 1 0-0 2, Turner 0 0-0 0,
Frick 0 0-0 0, Miller 0 0-0 0, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Coyne 0 0-0 0. Team 22
9-10 60.
3-point FG: Team 7 (Nelson 2, Schonauer 2, Anderson 2,
Brackney).
Jacksonville (41) --
Todd 16, Burgess 10, Sweatman 8, Berry 3, Metz 2, Williams 2.
End of first quarter -- LCHS 15, Jacksonville 5
Halftime -- LCHS 21, Jacksonville 17
End of third quarter -- LCHS 39, Jacksonville 26
___
LINCOLN (37) --
Young 4 6-8 14, Nelson 3 0-0 7, Brackney 2 1-2 6, Neece 1 0-0 3,
Anderson 1 0-0 3, Schonauer 0 2-2 2, Smith 0 2-2 2, Frick 0 0-0 0.
Team 11 11-14 37.
3-point FG: Team 4 (Nelson, Anderson, Brackney,
Neece).
Glenwood (29) --
Greene 6, Traina 6, Adams 6, Zimmerman 4, Turner 3, Falter 2, Brooks
2.
End of first quarter -- Glenwood 9, LCHS 4
Halftime -- LCHS 14, Glenwood 11
End of third quarter -- LCHS 29, Glenwood 19
[Special report filed by JEFF BENJAMIN]
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