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 Friday night's contest was a rematch from earlier in the season
at Collinsville. In that one, the Railers, despite very physical
play and four technicals being called, were able to advance with a
67-54 win.
No surprise, the Mount Zion Regional final was no different. Cuts
through the lane were met with extra elbows and pushing, shoves to
the court were simply proof of gravity, but not a foul. The
definition of a legal screen was stretched to the limit. For folks
who contend basketball is not a contact sport, this is not the game
they would call into evidence to prove their point.
Ironically, the Railers' first two baskets were of the finesse
variety as senior Ben Brackney, who lit up the Generals for 26
earlier in the season, hit two running floaters before MacArthur
could get on the board.
The first quarter had a good back-and-forth to it, although
Lincoln missed a number of layups as well as firing up a couple of
3-point shots that missed everything. Junior Jordan Nelson
connected on his first 3 of the night from his usual four feet
behind the line, breaking a 6-all tie and giving the Railers the
lead for good on the night. Nelson led the scoring with 23 points,
leaving him just two points shy of 600 on the season. This season, like many others from Lincoln, the Railers have used a
big run to put distance between them and their opponents. I don't
think anyone thought the 15-0 run that spanned late in the first
until 2:30 to go in the half would be the difference in the game.
Lincoln's 9-8 lead quickly expanded to 24-8 on the shooting prowess
of two 3s from Nelson and another from Brackney. So, in over
13 minutes of action, the Generals (8-19) managed only eight
points.
They certainly did themselves no favors, turning the ball over on
three of their first four possessions. However, give the MacArthur
squad credit as they closed the first half scoring eight more
points, doubling their score and cutting Lincoln's lead to eight at
the half, 24-18. MacArthur coach Felipe Phillips made a change in the
Generals' man-to-man
defense in the second half as the defender assigned to
Austin Kirby played off him to the point of almost ignoring him.
Give credit to the Railers as they patiently swung the ball
around the perimeter. When Kirby found himself open in the left
corner and his closest defender standing in the lane, the sophomore
sized up a 3 and drained it. After a Brant Coyne basket and a
couple of scores from MacArthur, Kirby found himself wide open at
the free-throw line and made the 15-footer.
 It was a prelude of things to come from Kirby and big shots from
the free-throw line. His efforts were not unnoticed by Lincoln coach
Neil Alexander. "He (Austin) plays with a lot of emotion, and that's
something I like to see our kids do," Alexander said. The end of the third quarter was highlighted by the play of Coyne.
With the score 33-25, Lincoln's defense shifted Coyne to playing
more in front of MacArthur's 6-5 inside presence, Kendall Kinnison,
who scored 23 in the first meeting. The defense held Kinnison to only one more field goal in the game
and just seven points total. "That's as hard as I've seen Brant play in a
long time," Alexander said. "He really did a nice job in the
fourth quarter against Kinnison -- he (Kinnison) was noneffective."
It was the strange ending to the period that featured Coyne.
After Lincoln missed a shot as the clock was winding down, the
MacArthur defender grabbed the ball, figured the clock would run out
and starting walking away with the ball. The near-side official
called traveling, which gave Lincoln an extra possession with 0.6
seconds left. As the ball was being inbounded, all the Railers ran
away from the lane, taking MacArthur defenders
with them. That left Coyne open in the lane to catch the pass from
Nelson and quickly flip it up to the basket from about seven feet
and watch it rattle good as time expired .
Lincoln's bench and crowd were ecstatic, while the MacArthur
coaching staff was livid as the third quarter ended with the Railers
up 37-27. With all that, the fourth quarter really got interesting. The early
stages of the fourth saw the teams alternating scores, and when Brackney
hit a field goal, Lincoln was up double digits 44-33. After a quick
four points from MacArthur cut the lead to seven, a foul was called,
sending Nelson to the line. However, in the discussion of
the play, both that one and previous ones that might not have been
called, a technical foul was called on the Lincoln bench. Nelson hit
both free throws, while Kieston Greene made just one of two of the
technical free throws. With possession, the Generals hit a 3 to cut
the game to five at 46-41, as close as they had been since the early
portion of the second quarter.
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As time was ticking down and Lincoln trying the milk the clock, MacArthur chose Kirby to shoot free throws. Maybe it was his limited
trips to the line or his percentage coming into the game, but coach
Phillips figured his best chance to get closer was to foul Kirby.
However, just like earlier in the game, Kirby was straight money
from the line. The sophomore drained both free throws, pushing the
lead back to three possessions at 48-41.
A basket by MacArthur was answered by two more free throws from
Brackney. Again, not enough time for the Generals as their final
basket was followed by Nelson hitting one more free throw to give
the Railers the six-point win. Coming into the game, Lincoln had shot only 62 percent from the line
over the past three games. Whatever was said or done to work on the
free throws certainly worked. This game was won at the line as
Lincoln hit 18 of 19 from the line, while MacArthur struggled to 2
of 6. Coach Alexander knew recent work would pay off.
He said, "I've been on them a little bit about shooting free throws,
and I think we focused the past three or four days a little bit
better."
Along with Nelson's 23, Brackney hit double figures with 11, while
Kirby finished a strong game with seven. Coyne added six and
Nathaniel Smith was perfect from the line on four attempts.
So, now there are just 32. The regional title is Lincoln's, and now
the real work begins. If the Railers hope to match last season and
advance to the sectional final, they will have to do so against a
team that has already beaten them twice this season, by identical
scores of 67-55.
When they line up against Springfield Southeast on Wednesday
night, there will be no secrets, no breaking out plays the other
hasn't seen. The Railers have played well at the beginning of each game
but found themselves unable to stop the Spartans as Southeast
charged back and out-toughed Lincoln. Will the Railers be able to shake the villain that is Southeast and
get the one win that matters the most, or will coach Lawrence Thomas'
crew continue to befuddle this Lincoln squad and prevent the Railers
from getting a return engagement with the defending state champions
on their home floor?
Whatever is worked on from now until tipoff could make the
difference, but whatever happens on the court that night will tell
the tale. "We have to go back the drawing board, watch a lot of the
tape and get ourselves prepared to play. They're going to come out
and try to prove a point that they (Southeast) are the best
basketball team," Alexander said.
For all of us in Railer Nation, let's hope this tale has a happy
ending. ___ LINCOLN (51) Nelson 6 8-9 23, Brackney 4 2-2 11, Kirby 2 2-2 7, Coyne 2 2-2 6,
Smith 0 4-4 4, Turner 0 0-0 0. Team 14 18-19 51. 3-point field goals
5 (Nelson 3, Brackney, Kirby). MacArthur (45) Taylor 18, Jones 8, Greene 7, Kinnison 7, Gadison 3, F.Lee 2. Team
18 2-6 45. 3-point field goals 7 (Taylor 4, Greene 2, Gadison). MacArthur 8-8-9-20
Lincoln 11-13-13-14 Other notes:
- The regional title was the 16th for coach Neil Alexander, 14 of
those at Lincoln.
[Special report by JEFF
BENJAMIN]
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