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 However, if you were there on Saturday, the games you saw from
the Railer squad were completely different.
Most of the coaches, including Lincoln's Neil Alexander, will tell
you the most difficult game to prepare the players for is the first
game on Saturday. Alexander has noted numerous times that the team
that plays the best in the early games is the "one that wants to
win." Lincoln made it very clear early in the contest that they were
planning on staying perfect after their matchup with Cahokia. The Comanches came into the game at 2-1, but after senior Nathaniel
Smith's basket tied the game at eight, the Railers stepped on the
gas, leaving the Comanches frustrated and exhibiting characteristics
of a team that had given up. Smitty's bucket started a 27-3 run that
saw Lincoln's lead jump to 33-11 near the end of the first half. The
run featured just about everything -- 3s, breakouts, offensive putbacks and even a dunk from Christian Van Hook. Lincoln took a 33-13
lead into half.
The second half would not be much better for Cahokia. After scoring
the first basket of the half, another run of 20-5 saw the Railers
stretch the lead to 53-20 at the end of three. Again, the scoring
came in bunches, thanks to steals and free throws as well as a 3-pointer and dunk from Jordan Nelson, who led a balanced
scoring attack with 18 points.
Cahokia was able to battle back a little in the fourth, but well
after the game had been decided, and Lincoln came away with a
relatively easy 25-point victory, 60-35.
Nelson's 18 was one of four players in double figures. Smith scored
15, Van Hook and Jordan Gesner each had 11, while Austin Kirby
scored three and Brant Coyne added two.
By the time Lincoln took the court at Roy S. Anderson against the
Big 12's Danville on Saturday night, they had already won the
tournament title. A loss would put them in a 4-1 tie with Morton,
but the victory over the Potters on Friday would give them the
head-to-head tiebreaker.
The Vikings had nothing to lose as they came in searching for
their first win of the season. To be fair to the Vikings, their
football team advanced to the state semifinals, leaving a number of
the better players still in football mode.
Many of us, including those of us on the radio broadcast team,
thought this would be an easy win -- give Lincoln the trophy and let's
move on. Well, as they say, that's why they play the games.
Sure, the game started like the contest earlier in the day. Nelson and Coyne combined for all 14 of the team's
early points to
get out to a 14-9 lead. In fact, the duo teamed up to score
Lincoln's first 28 points in the game.
After Coyne's basket and Nelson's 3-pointer extended the lead
to a 19-9 double-digit lead, another cakewalk seemed inevitable.
Then Danville began chipping away at the Lincoln lead, going on a 10-4
run of their own to close the gap to 23-19.
 The disappointing
aspect of their comeback was how easy it was for the points to be
scored. Viking leading scorer Dennis Hightower was allowed to find
openings on the outside for clean looks to help cut into the Lincoln
lead. When the Vikings did miss, their effort on the boards made the putbacks too simple. Passes from near the timeline were met with no resistance, and
easy basket after easy basket gave the Railer nation an uneasy
feeling. Nelson's basket pushed the lead back out to 25-19, but
another five in a row from Danville pulled them to within one. Coyne
connected from the corner for 3, but Danville quickly answered
with a couple of free throws.
The effort by the Railers on the floor, whether it was simple lack
of effort or fatigue from the long first week of game action, was
not to the liking of coach Alexander. As such, with about 30 seconds
to go in the first half, no one would have guessed the five on the
floor would be Austin Kirby, Jordan Gesner, Jake Olson, Matt Hays
and Andy Krusz. The more recognizable names were on the
bench as their play on the defensive was just not good. Krusz took
advantage of his earlier-than-normal entry into the contest with
nice post-up and spin in the lane to put the lead at 30-26. Danville's Hightower kept the momentum going into the half by
hitting a shot from just behind the timeline as the buzzer sounded, and what was thought to be an easy win was now a one-point game and
Roy S. Anderson had become very quiet. My guess is that the locker
room was not that quiet.
Earlier in the tournament against Morton, Nathaniel Smith had a
breakout third quarter. Against Danville, the junior scored the
first five points of the quarter for Lincoln to help the Railers
keep the lead.
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Unfortunately, Danville was able to match point for point and
trailed 35-34. With all the firepower Lincoln showed during the
tournament, I guess there is some irony that the run that got the
game back into Lincoln control started with two Coyne free
throws. The senior's free throws ignited a 10-0 run featuring a 3
each from Nelson and Kirby. After a Danville basket, another
score from Smith and a 3 from Gesner, the one-point halftime
lead had quickly grown to a 50-36 lead. The Vikings (0-5) scored the
final five points of the quarter to trail 50-41, but that is as
close as they would get.
The fourth quarter featured the many sides of Christian Van Hook.
The junior scored all six of his points on jumpers and offensive
rebounds, besides grabbing defensive boards and blocking shots. Although Lincoln may have been tired, the fatigue may have caught up
to Danville first as a 15-2 advantage in the fourth helped Lincoln
to the 65-43 win.
Nelson again led the Railers in scoring with 30, with Coyne the other
player in double figures with 11. Smith scored seven, with Van Hook and Gesner chipping in
six. Kirby scored three, while Krusz added two.
The final tournament standings were Lincoln 5-0, Morton 4-1,
Centennial 3-2, Cahokia 2-3, Belleville Althoff 1-4 and Danville
0-5.
 The all-tournament team as voted by the coaches and the media
featured Smith and Nelson from Lincoln, Morton's Tyler Lundeen and
Brett Bisping, Centennial's Josh Piper, Althoff's David Franklin and
Carson Sonnenberg, and Dennis Hightower from Danville.
An oddity in the schedule has the Railers off until Saturday, when
they go out of conference to take on Normal West at 7:30 in Normal.
If you can't make it up Interstate 55, you can listen live and then
catch the wrap-up here at Lincoln Daily News.
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LINCOLN (60)
Nelson 7 1-2 18, Smith 6 3-4 15, Gesner 4 0-0 11, Van Hook 5 1-2 11,
Kirby 1 0-0- 3, Coyne 1 0-0 2, Olson 0 0-0 0, Hays 0 0-0 0, Krusz 0
0-0 0. Team 24 5-8 60.
3-point field goals 7 (Nelson 3, Gesner 3,
Kirby).
Cahokia (35)
Minor 16, Rivers 5, Holmes 4, Jackson 4, Dobby 4, Bell 2. Team 16
1-4 35.
3-point field goals 2 (Rivers, Minor).
Score by quarters: End of first quarter -- LCHS 15, Cahokia 8
Halftime -- LCHS 33, Cahokia 13
End of third quarter -- LCHS 53, Cahokia 20
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LINCOLN (65)
Nelson 12 1-2 30, Coyne 3 4-4 11, Smith 3 0-0 7, Gesner 2 0-0 6, Van
Hook 3 0-0 6, Kirby 1 0-0 3, Krusz 1 0-0 2, Olson 0 0-0 0, Hays 0
0-0 0. Team 25 5-6 65.
3-point field goals 10 (Nelson 5, Gesner 2,
Smith, Kirby, Coyne).
Danville (43)
Hightower 16, J. Robinson 10, Gaines 9, Carter 4, Smith 2,
Cunningham 2. Team 17 4-4 43.
3-point field goals 5 (Hightower 4,
Gaines).
Score by quarters: End of first quarter -- LCHS 14, Danville 9
Halftime -- LCHS 30, Danville 29
End of third quarter -- LCHS 50, Danville 41
[By JEFF BENJAMIN]
Jeff Benjamin's Railer basketball articles
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