Thursday, February 04, 2010
Sports NewsMayfield's Mutterings: Illini still in the hunt?

Railers thump Centralia 52-27

Send a link to a friend

[February 04, 2010]  CENTRALIA -- "3618." No, those were not the winning lottery numbers on Saturday night. The number represents the total combined wins in the history-rich basketball programs of Lincoln and Centralia.

On Saturday night, it was the Railers who added one more to their total with a dominant performance worthy of the No. 2 team in Class 3A as Lincoln knocked off the Orphans 52-27.

During his postgame radio interview, Lincoln coach Neil Alexander alluded to the hardwood history at Centralia.

"This is the winningest high school program in the country -- not just the state, the country. Coming in, we made a point about that. They have a large digital display where we came in with the number 2,040 (number of wins in Centralia history) on it," Alexander said. "We simply made a point that they would not be going to 2,041 tonight. The guys took a lot of pride in that."

Misc

The Lincoln performance on Saturday night was as impressive, if not more so, than the arena in which the game was held. Centralia boasts a high school gym that rivals the amenities, look and wow factor of a facility such as Illinois Wesleyan's Shirk Center. The multiple scoreboards, balconies overlooking each corner and a live video feed of the game on the overhead scoreboard could not surpass the efforts, both offensively and defensively, of the Railers.

Lincoln (13-2) never trailed in the contest, thanks to Ben Brackney's early 3 on the game's first possession. Centralia did get an inside basket to cut the game to 3-2, but no one would have guessed that the Orphans (10-5) would draw no closer the rest of the evening.

A free throw from Jordan Nelson and two more baskets from Brackney gave Lincoln an 8-4 at the end of the first quarter. In a chicken-or-egg scenario, it's hard to tell if the first-quarter score was so low thanks to Lincoln's stifling defense or Centralia's ability to be patient.

Those in attendance will attest that the Lincoln defense kept Centralia at bay all night. The home team was forced into many passes around the perimeter -- not looking for the best shot, simply looking for any shot. The Railer zone moved as well as it had all season.

Passes to the inside were tipped away; hustling double teams forced turnovers in the corners and at the sidelines. It seemed Lincoln's defense could do no wrong, while Centralia must have thought coach Alexander had seven players on defense. The Railers were just that good on this night.

The second quarter belonged to Nelson. The junior, who is now only eight points away from 1,000 in his career, scored all 12 Railer points by connecting on four 3-pointers.

Library

Nelson, possibly spurred on by the pregame chant of "Over-rated" from the Centralia student section, was hitting 3s on set plays as well as finding the slightest of openings to pull the trigger from long range.

All of Nelson's offense was aided by more Lincoln defense to take the lead into halftime at 20-11. Scoring for the Railers was easy to calculate at the half with Nelson leading with 13 and Brackney adding seven.

For years, impressive Railers performances have included long runs starting on the defensive end. Saturday night was no exception as the Railers went on a 29-4 through the third quarter and midway into the fourth.

Simply put, Centralia had no answer for the Lincoln defense. Brackney scored 10 in a row during this streak, while junior Nathaniel Smith added all seven of his points during the stretch as well.

After Alexander emptied the bench, giving everyone time on the court, the Orphans were able to close the gap, but with no chance of it being close enough to win.

Coach Al was quite pleased with the performance, saying: "I'm really proud of the kids and how they battled tonight. We put a lot of effort out on the defensive end and it showed."

[to top of second column]

The Railers were led by 20 from Nelson, the 14th time in his career he has hit for 20 or more. Brackney added 17, with Smith adding seven. Others in the scorebook were Brandon Miller hitting from 3 in the final minutes, Brant Coyne and Christian Van Hook adding two each, while Austin Kirby hit 1 of 2 from the free-throw line.

Lincoln finished the week at 2-1, still trying to shake off the loss to Southeast, a loss that coach Alexander said still makes him "sick to think about it."

As disappointed and frustrated as the coach was after the game on Tuesday, there may have been some perspective tapped, as Alexander said, "but if we were able to learn something about effort and ourselves from that loss, maybe that loss was good for us."

Another busy stretch for Lincoln begins on Friday night at SHG, followed by a home contest Saturday against Lake Park Roselle.

Pharmacy

The next week is the Meijer Winter Classic down in Chatham. It's very hard to believe this season is about at the halfway point.

Other scores from the Central State Eight on Saturday:

  • Waukegan 63, Southeast 54

  • Centennial 63, Lanphier 56

  • Springfield 53, No. 33 Richwoods 42

  • Limestone 60, SHG 55

  • Jacksonville 53, Bethalto Civic Memorial 33

The season stats are usually updated by midweek, so look for those here as well as coverage of every game at www.lincolndailynews.com.

___

LINCOLN (52)

Nelson 7 1-2 20, Brackney 7 0-0 17, Smith 3 0-0 7, Miller 1 0-0 3, Van Hook 1 0-0 2, Coyne 1 0-02, Kirby 0 1-2 1, Gesner 0 0-0 0, Olson 0 0-0 0, Turner 0 0-0 0, Hays 0 0-0 0, Krusz 0 0-0 0, Bowlby 0 0-0 0, Green 0 0-0 0. Team 20 2-4 52. 3-point field goals 10 (Nelson 5, Brackney 3, Smith, Miller).

Centralia (27)

Fritch 8, Rush 5, Jones 4, Buchanan 4, Kwiatkowski 3, McConnaughy 2, Dabney 1.

Lincoln 8-12-20-12
Centralia 4-7-4-12

Other notes:

  • The win was No. 1,578 in Lincoln history.

  • Ben Brackney is now just one 3 behind David Pickering (132) for 3s made in a career. He is also drawing closer to 1,000, just 47 points away.

  • The Railers remain perfect when leading at the half (13-0).

  • The 25-point win was the largest victory margin of the season. The defense also had their best performance, allowing only 27 points. The previous best was 34 against Taylorville.

[Special report by JEFF BENJAMIN]

< Sports index

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 | Teen Scene
Calendar | Letters to the Editor