|
 Although last night's game was not a conference tilt, the matchup
with Highland started to give Lincoln fans that feeling of déjà vu.
But after falling behind 10-0 to the Bulldogs, Lincoln was able to take
the lead by halftime and pull away in the fourth quarter to notch a
61-51 win over a tough Highland squad.
The Railers are 3-0 in the
Meijer Classic and 17-3 on the season.
Highland dominated the early stages of the first quarter thanks to
sloppy play from the Railers and matador-type defense from Lincoln.
The Bulldogs' Geoffrey Hartleib, Trent Donaldson and Ben Sparlin
used their 6-foot-4 and over frames, along with well-executed offensive
sets, to streak out to an early 10-0, prompting Lincoln coach Neil
Alexander to use a timeout early in the contest, something he
generally does not like to do. "I don't think we came ready to
play," Alexander said. "The first five, six minutes we were just
kind of there, but then we picked things up and got back into it."
 Lincoln's first points of the night came from a nice Brant Coyne
pass from the high post to a cutting Nathaniel Smith. The
tournament's leading scorer through the first two games hit the layup.
After a Bulldog free throw, the Railers strung together seven in
a row, including the first of Jordan Nelson's seven 3-pointers
on the night. The way the game started, being down just 11-9 at the
end of one was looking pretty good.
An early Highland (11-7) basket extended their lead to four, but a
Smith basket and a 3 from the left corner by Austin Kirby gave
Lincoln their first lead of the night at 14-13. The rest of the
second quarter looked more like a pingpong match, with four lead changes
the rest of the period.
Nelson, who scored a game-high 30 points, hit again from long
range to put the Railers back on top at 17-15. After being tied,
Smith and Nelson scored four to put Lincoln back up 21-17. Another
Highland run gave them the lead at 22-21, and it appeared the
Bulldogs would take the lead into the half.
After fighting through a number of screens, trying to free
himself of Michael Buehne, who played Nelson as physically as anyone
will all year, the senior fired from just beyond the top of the key,
and when the ball went through the bottom of the net, Lincoln (17-3)
took the advantage into the locker room at 24-22.
Another Nelson 3 pushed the lead to five, but Donaldson and Hartleib again proved too much for the Lincoln defense. An 11-2 run
from Highland put the Bulldogs up 33-29. Nelson's 3 again
brought the Railers to within one, but Hartleib found as much
success as Nelson did from 3-point range. Down 38-33, and with Buehne proving to be a very capable defender, the Railers turned to
seniors to begin the comeback.
Coyne's 3 from the corner pulled Lincoln to 38-36, but Hartleib drained an off-balance
3 from the corner. Two of the
biggest buckets of the night came from Smith, one at the end of the
third and the other to begin the fourth. Down five, Smith tracked
down an offensive rebound, turned and fired in an 18-footer as the
buzzer sounded to end the third. Trailing by just three, Smith again
crashed the boards, getting a two-hand tip to fall and bring Lincoln
to within one. Coyne gave the lead back to the Railers on a jumper in the
lane, 42-41. After falling behind again by one, Lincoln ran off a
7-0 streak, highlighted by Nelson from deep and Smith in the lane.
Finally, the Railers were putting some distance between
themselves and the Bulldogs. Up 49-45, another basket from Smith and
two free throws from Coyne stretched the Lincoln lead to 53-45.
Although they struggled from the line for the night, 14 of 21, the
Railers stepped up in the fourth quarter, going 9 of 12 to seal away
the victory 61-51.
[to top of second column] |
There were things Lincoln coach
Alexander knows the team still needs to work on, but he was pleased,
other than the first few minutes, with the effort. "I thought our
kids played hard, physical," Alexander said. "When the other team
gets up on you, you've got to be able to be physical right back with
them."
Nelson, who was involved with
turnovers on the first three possessions, came back strong to score
30. Smith continued his excellent play, scoring 15 while adding a team-high four assists and seven rebounds. Coyne played one of his better
games of the season, battling the bulk and height of the Highland
big men. The senior scored nine. Kirby added five while Jordan Gesner hit a couple of free throws late.
So, can Lincoln go undefeated in the Meijer Classic for the third year in a
row? Well, we'll find out starting just after most of us have had
breakfast. Lincoln has a doubleheader on Saturday with an early
morning contest scheduled at 10 a.m. against Taylorville. The
Railers will then have some time to kill while waiting for the
tournament final game against host Chatham Glenwood at 8 p.m.
Other Friday night scores: Jacksonville 41, Taylorville 20; and
Glenwood 50, Rochester 36. Going into Saturday, the tournament
standings show Lincoln 3-0, Glenwood 2-1, Jacksonville 2-1, Highland
2-1, Rochester 0-3 and Taylorville 0-3.
Scores from the city tournament in Springfield: Lanphier 76,
Springfield 71; and Southeast 60, SHG 53. The Central State Eight
standings are Southeast 8-1, Lincoln 6-2, Lanphier 6-2, SHG 5-4,
Jacksonville 5-4, Springfield 4-4, Glenwood 4-5, Rochester 0-8 and
Taylorville 0-8.
 ___
LINCOLN (61)
Nelson 10-21 3-8 30, Smith 5-12 5-6 15, Coyne 3-4 2-3 9, Kirby 1-1
2-2 5, Gesner 0-1 2-2 2, Van Hook 0-0 0-0 0, Olson 0-0 0-0 0, Cook
0-0 0-0 0. Team 19-39 14-21 61.
3-point field goals 9-21 (Nelson
7-15, Kirby 1-1, Coyne 1-2, Gesner 0-1, Smith 0-2).
Rebounds 24
(Smith 7), assists 7 (Smith 4), steals 9 (Nelson 5), turnovers 13.
Highland (51)
Hartleib 21, Donaldson 13, Sparlin 11, Ammann 4, Buehne 2. Team
20-36 6-10 51.
3-point field goals 5-14 (Hartleib 4, Donaldson).
Rebounds 23, assists 14, steals 6, turnovers 17.
Score by quarters:
End of first quarter -- Highland 11, LCHS 9
Halftime -- LCHS 24, Highland 22
End of third quarter -- Highland 41, LCHS 38
[By JEFF BENJAMIN]
Jeff Benjamin's Railer basketball articles
|
