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 These recent ups and downs from the Railers, I do not.
A free throw with 2.5 seconds remaining to complete a conventional
three-point play by Sacred Heart-Griffin's Austin Eagleton gave the
Cyclones a stunning 42-41 upset win over Class 3A's No. 7
team, dropping the Railers to 13-3 on the season, 4-2 in Central
State Eight play. Lincoln had one final shot, but Jordan Nelson's
heave from just inside half-court glanced off the front rim and, for
the second Friday in a row, Railer Nation watched as players and
fans from a Springfield school celebrated after handing Lincoln a
loss.
So, a team that lost to Springfield last week, then exorcised some
demons by knocking off Southeast, heads back the other way and falls
to SHG. Talk about your ups and downs. With a nonconference game
against Kankakee looming on Saturday night, the coaching staff is
also at a loss to figure out who will be wearing the red and green.
"Well, we'll be there," coach Neil Alexander said during his
postgame interview, "but I'm not sure what team will show up."
 Whichever team shows up, one area the Railers desperately need to
improve on is free-throw shooting. "We've lost three games this
year," Alexander said, "and all three games we lost because of free
throws." In those three losses, Lincoln has made only 21 of 37
attempts (57 percent). Those numbers include an 8-of-15 performance
on Friday when SHG was begging the Railers to take control of the
game. During the fourth quarter, Lincoln stepped to
the line for a pair of free throws on seven occasions, making both
only once.
Lincoln's lack of production was part of the issue on Friday night
at Jim Belz Gymnasium, but also credit the SHG defense, which held
the Railers without a field goal for the entire fourth quarter.
The game started out rather calmly, with Lincoln getting an early
spark from senior Brant Coyne. Coyne scored eight of Lincoln's first
11 points, helping the Railers to an early 11-9 advantage.
Unfortunately, Coyne was also registering on the scoreboard in the
foul column, picking up three in the first five minutes-plus of the
game, which found him forced to the sideline for the rest of the
half. After SHG tied the contest at 11, Lincoln went on an 8-0
run, culminated by Nelson's third 3 of the evening, to lead
19-11. There certainly could have been no one in the crowd who
would have known at the time that the lead would be Lincoln's
biggest of the night and that it would be the last basket for the
Railers' leading scorer in the contest.
SHG, like Lincoln, enjoys shooting the 3. With Lincoln up 21-14,
an SHG 3 ended the half and another 3 was the first basket of the
third quarter, cutting the Railer lead to one at 21-20. Lincoln was
able to answer with a couple of 3s of their own in the third
quarter, both from Austin Kirby, and two inside buckets from
Nathaniel Smith. Kirby's last 3, giving Lincoln the lead at
33-32, would be the last basket made by Lincoln.
The fourth quarter was simply hard to watch as the Railers struggled
from the line over and over. Players you would want there at the line just could not drop a set of free throws. Using free throws,
the Railers were able to stretch the lead to 39-35, but a 3 from SHG's Clint Sestak pulled it back to one.
More back-and-forth with free throws found the score at 41-39
Lincoln. After, you guessed it, a missed free throw, SHG came down
on their final possession, missed a 3-pointer as well as the
rebound, but Eagleton was fouled on their third attempt, tying the
game at 41.
After two timeouts to try to freeze Eagleton, SHG's top 3-point shooter hit the charity toss, giving the Cyclones a lead
they would not relinquish as Nelson's shot fell off to the side and a
wave of disbelief fell over the large contingent of Railer fans in
attendance.
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Coach Alexander's summation of this tough loss: "We are not
consistent enough as a team."
It must be frustrating for the
coaching staff, not only having to prepare for the opponent, but
also trying to prepare for a team that has taken on a Jekyll and
Hyde personality. The talent is there. We know what these
players can do, but some nights it is not there. Thankfully,
there is another game around the corner to try to work out the
issues and get a more consistent performance from the Railers.
Lincoln was led by Nelson's 14 points, while Smith added nine.
The early eight from Coyne was it for him in the scorebook, with
Kirby scoring six and Christian Van Hook adding four.
Lincoln's next contest will be tonight at home against Kankakee,
with the JV scheduled to start at 6. The JV suffered a tough
loss Friday night, falling 46-43 in double overtime.
Tonight's home game continues a run of seven games in nine days
for Lincoln, with the Meijer Winter Classic on tap for next
week.
As for the ups and downs, leave that to those who teeter-totter.
___ Lincoln (41)
Nelson 3 5-8 14, Smith 3 3-6 9, Coyne 3 0-0 8, Kirby 2 0-0 6,
Van Hook 2 0-0 4, Gesner 0 0-1 0, Olson 0 0-0 0. Team 13-38 8-15
41.
3-point field goals 7-24 (Nelson 3, Coyne 2, Kirby 2).
SHG (42)
Eagleton 12, Sestak 8, Boggs 6, Bland 6, Holmes 4, Sergent 4,
Williams 2. Team 15-52 4-9 42.
3-point field goals 8-35 (Eagleton
3, Boggs 2, Sestak, Holmes, Sergent). Score by
quarters:
End of first quarter -- LCHS 16, SHG 11
Halftime -- LCHS 21, SHG 17
End of third quarter -- SHG 35, LCHS 33
Other notes:
- I wanted to pass on good wishes from former Railer standout Gene
Hurt. He was in attendance at the SHG game on Friday night and
wanted to let everyone know he still roots for the Railers. In
fact, he produced a picture of the 1950-51 squad that advanced
to state tournament play -- only the second Railer team to do so.
He pointed out other notables on that team such as Jerry Alberts,
Frank Hinman, Charles Ott, Don Augspurger and his twin brother,
Glenn.
[By JEFF BENJAMIN]
Jeff Benjamin's Railer basketball articles
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