 Other than playing the game outdoors, Lincoln coach Neil Alexander
made it sound as if his team must do whatever it takes to keep the
Titans' duo of marksmen from heating up."Peyton Allen and Miles
McAdams," said Alexander when asked what made Chatham-Glenwood (9-1,
1-1 in conference play) such a challenging opponent. "I think Miles
is as good of a shooter as we have in our league. His production, as
far as points per shot, is pretty good. He's going to get his 15 or
16 or maybe even 20 points on about 10 shots.
"Then Peyton Allen, he causes problems because he requires so
much attention. He's going to take a lot of shots, but we can't give
them have any second opportunities. We have to control the boards.
If we do well on the boards, and keep both of them in check, I think
we've got a chance to win."
Allen, a junior, is a highly regarded college prospect. According
to Scout.com, Allen has scholarship offers from Oklahoma State,
Bradley and Iowa, along with recruiting interest from numerous other
schools. Allen leads the Central Eight Conference in scoring, with
an average of 21.5 points per game.
McAdams, like Southeast's Herman Senor, is the quarterback of his
school's football team and one of the premier dual-sport athletes in
the Central State Eight Conference. McAdams averages 14.1 points per
game.
Lincoln will also be looking to snap a three-game losing streak
to Chatham-Glenwood. The Titans beat the Railers in all three of the
games between the two teams last season.
Just like last week
The Railers enter the game coming off the high of what many would
call their best performance of the season.
Lincoln came back from a 10-0 deficit on the road to defeat
Springfield Southeast 52-50.
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In a physical game, the Railers didn't back down or lose
their poise, which Alexander said was a major factor in the
victory.
"Well, I think we know how to come to play now," said Alexander.
"I thought it was a very good game because we kept our composure. We
could have thrown in the towel after the first few minutes of the
game, being down 10-0. But we kept chipping away.
"They didn't let (Southeast) intimidate them. I think that was
part of Southeast's game plan, to come out and be aggressive with us
and see if we could handle it. Our kids withstood that challenge."
Max-imum effort
Another difference in Friday's win was the play of Lincoln junior
Max Cook. Cook scored 17 points, along with contributing seven
rebounds and six assists.
An excellent passer who plays the point guard position in
Lincoln's offense, Cook aggressively looked for his own shot, and
the results were positive against the Spartans.
Although pleased with Cook's scoring, Alexander also pointed out
that it's the balanced attack of the Railer offense that makes
Lincoln so dangerous.
"He's got to score for us," said Alexander. "But if you look at
our stats right now, all of our starters are between about nine and
10.5 points per game.
"We're hard to defend, because it's not just one guy. All of them
are really capable of putting together a big night, but for the most
part, our kids are going to score about 10 points each."
[By JUSTIN TIERNEY]
Railer-related information:
www.railerbasketball.com
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