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 A trio of seniors reached double figures for the Railers as
Lincoln connected on 54 percent of their shots, including 46 percent
from three-point range. It is hard to believe but when the final
buzzer sounded on Lincoln’s eighth win of the season, their regular
season had reached the one-third mark. The victory was a good team
win, and one had to look no further that the stat sheet. According
to the numbers provided by the stat crew at Collinsville, of
Lincoln’s 22 field goals, 20 of them featured assists. Once again,
Railer passing at its best.
“We preach to them to make the extra pass,” Coach Neil Alexander
said after the contest. “They’ve bought into it and when you make
the extra pass, you’re still going to get the same number of shots
so why not have an extra pass result in a better shot.”
At times, it was the Railer offense that was dominating the game.
Lincoln’s defense did its part to force Urbana into 15 turnovers, a
product of a defense that can frustrate a team into one mistake
after another.
 The Railers jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a baseline jumper
from Gavin Block, game high scorer with 18 points and an alley-oop
lob from Will Cook to Aron Hopp. After the Tigers (2-7) tied the
game at four, Lincoln took control of the game with a 12-0 run
fueled by Block and Cook. Block split a pair of free throws after
fighting off as many as four Urbana players for a pair of offensive
rebounds. The Ohio University signee then scored on another
alley-oop courtesy of Hopp. Up 7-4, it was time to turn to Mr.
Consistency, Will Cook.
Maybe it was harkening back a few years ago in Collinsville when
Tyler Horchem torched Urbana for six first half three-pointers, but
Cook starting hitting from long-range and did not stop until he
scored 12 in a row on four three-pointers and Lincoln’s lead had
grown to 19-7 in the early part of the second quarter. Coming into
this season, Cook’s career high was 15 points, a mark he reached
Saturday and is the fifth time this year he had finished with 15
points.
 Another player that Railer fans have looking to for scoring is
Payton Ebelherr. The senior has not showed the offense as he did
last year, but Coach Alexander knows what he needs from the senior.
“You have to give him a break,” Alexander said. “His main focus is
running the team, getting everyone where they need to be and that is
something he can’t do if he is focused on scoring. Yes, points are
nice to get but we know where he needs to focus.” Ebelherr, who
finished with 11 points, hit from behind the arc to push the Lincoln
lead to 24-9. The closest Urbana would draw to was 10 after Dajon
Brown scored five in a row, including a conventional three-point
play.
As the first half wound down, Block scored five more, including a
top of the key three pointer and another long range shot from
Ebelherr, a shot that would have been a three but he had a foot on
the line. Lincoln led 31-14 at the half and part of the reason came
down to opportunities as Lincoln made as many field goals (12) as
Urbana was able to attempt.
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A free throw from Block stretched the lead at the beginning of the
third quarter to 32-14, but the Tigers showed a bit more spirit in
the second half. A couple of baskets, including one on an offensive
rebound, brought Urbana to within 32-19. As they did most of the
second half, when it appeared Urbana was going to make a strong run
to climb back into the contest, Lincoln answered back. A score on an
offensive rebound by Block was followed by the game’s hold your
breath moment. A drive to the goal by Hopp saw the Lincoln junior
get undercut as he was going up for the shot. The shot went in but
the main concern was Hopp who landed hard on the flat of his back.
However, more so than I could ever do, he hopped back to his feet as
fast as he had hit the court and stepped to the line, completing the
three point play to put Lincoln up 37-19.
 Freshman Isaiah Bowers hit the first of his two baskets, while
Block and Ebelherr each drained threes and the lead had grown to 21
at 45-24. During the fourth quarter, each time Urbana scored,
Lincoln answered back and by the time Ebelherr and Cook hit the last
of their threes on the day, the Railers were up 55-38 and it was
obvious Lincoln would be advancing to Monday’s action in the
winner’s bracket. KJ Fry ended Lincoln’s scoring with a pair of free
throws to give the tournament’s number –two seed a 59-44 win.
Block hit double figures with 18 points as well as 9 rebounds,
joined by Cook’s 15 and Ebelherr’s 11 points. Hopp finished one
point shy of double figures with 9 points but shared the team assist
lead with 5. Bowers also had 5 assists and 4 points with Fry adding
two free throws.
Lincoln’s next action will be Monday afternoon in a 2:30pm matchup
against Quincy, a 64-60 winner over Belleville East.
LINCOLN (59)
Block 7-16 2-4 18, Cook 5-10 0-0 15, Ebelherr 4-5 0-0 11, Hopp 4-4
1-1 9, Bowers 2-4 0-0 4, Fry 0-0 2-2 2, Perry 0-1 0-0 0, Aeilts 0-1
0-0 0, Biggs 0-0 0-0 0. TEAM 22-41 5-7 59. 3-point FG 10-22 (Cook
5-9, Ebelherr 3-4, Block 2-7, Perry 0-1, Aeilts 0-1). Rebounds 17,
Assists 20, Turnovers 8.
URBANA (44)
Hillsman 15, Romito 10, Boyd 9, Brown 7, Wilson 2, Jones 1. TEAM
18-33 5-11 44. 3-point FG 5-11 (Hillsman 3, Boyd, Romito). Rebounds
20, Assists 13, Turnovers 15.
LINCOLN 13-18-14-14 59
URBANA 4-10-13-17 44
[Jeff Benjamin] |
