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 In the 2600th game in Lincoln basketball history, Lincoln found
themselves facing an opponent a bit more formidable than the Rockets
that lost to the Railers by 25 earlier in the season. Of course,
that Rochester squad was just in the early stages of their season
after completing another football state championship run. Lincoln,
on the other hand, was playing a little short-handed on Wednesday
night as junior Aron Hopp was still feeling the effects of a leg
injury suffered on Monday night. Hopp played only 16 minutes and
there is hope he will be closer to full strength when the tournament
resumes Friday night in Chatham.
It took both teams a while to get on the board, but Lincoln went to
an old reliable play to score when Block scored on an alley oop pass
from Jordan Perry. After Colin Stallworth knotted the game for the
Rockets, Block found Hopp on the baseline for an easy lay-in to put
Lincoln up 4-2. Former Lincoln Railer Adam Conrady hit a patented
baseline jumper to tie the game at four, an area where Rochester
found a lot of success on the evening. A lot of Rochester baskets
came from down low.
 Will Cook put the Railers back on top with the first of his two
threes, but Stallworth continued his hot start, knocking down two
more shots to give his Rockets the 8-7 lead. Block put Lincoln back
up with a basket over Conrady, but did not capitalize on the three
point play attempt. Stallworth continued to do damage with a three
from the corner and again the Rockets claimed the advantage at 11-9.
The first quarter ended on a good note for the Railers as Block
grabbed an offensive rebound and dropped a putback off the glass
before the buzzer sounded. The game was tied at 11 as Block’s
rebound allowed him to move into 7th all-time on the rebounding
list, passing Geoff Alexander and Dave Hauffe.
The Railers hit two threes in the first minute of the second,
forcing Rochester coach Mike Steers to take a timeout as Block and
Cook stretched the lead to 17-11 with Block’s three made possible
off a hard fought offensive rebound by Payton Ebelherr. Rochester
continued to hang tough with Matt McClintock hitting a pair from,
you guessed it, the baseline, to pull within a pair at 17-15.
Lincoln used a 7-0 run to seemingly take control as the game drifted
towards halftime. A drive from Block and a lay-in from Hopp off a
nice look from Cook was followed by a big three from the top of the
key by Ebelherr. The run put Lincoln up 24-15 and things were
looking good as was Ebelherr’s performance. “That was a big shot by
Payton, but I tell you, I have more fun watching him play defense,”
Coach Neil Alexander said. “We asked a lot more of him tonight with
Hopp unable to move to the point. He played really well, his hands
were quick, as were all the guards. Tonight, we played quick.”
However, the dreaded missed layup came back to bite the Railers
again. After a turnover, the Railers had an easy run out for a layup
which was missed. Rochester took advantage off the miss and Dalton
Handlin hit from three to give the game a quick five point swing and
give the Rockets the momentum heading into halftime down to the
Railers 24-18.
I’m not sure what adjustments Rochester made at the break, but they
certainly felt like the team that came out ready to play. Howard
Fisher hit a three which was followed by two more baseline 17
footers from Conrady, the latter putting Rochester back in front
25-24. It was time to see if the Railers were ready to implement the
halftime adjustments.
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“We talked about a few things at halftime,” Alexander said. “We
thought Gavin was playing too much on the perimeter and we needed
him inside more.” Block may have been the night’s leading scorer,
but, just like Monday night, it was another senior hitting the big
shot of the night. With 4:12 left in the quarter, Perry hit from the
left corner from three point range, a shot Coach Al called “a quick
shot, you know one of those no, no, no, no…yes from the bench.” With
a struggling offense on Monday, Perry fought off a run from
Jacksonville to hit a three to help Lincoln. On Wednesday night, his
long range accuracy put Lincoln up to stay at 27-25.
Freshman Isaiah Bowers extended the lead, hitting a reverse layup
off a pass from Block, but Stallworth would not be denied and his
basket cut the lead back to two at 29-27. The Railers used intense
defense and good shooting to go on a 10-0 run to go up 39-27. Block
and Bowers both scored in the lane, while Block and Ebelherr both
hit from long range. The Lincoln offense sure looks different when
they are able to hit three pointers with seven on the evening.
Bowers split a pair of free throws to put the game at 40-29. From
there, it was all Block in the scorebook. The Ohio University
recruit scored Lincoln’s final eight points to finish with 24,
enough (1392) to move him into 7th all-time scoring, passing Matt
Schick. On the night, Block also tied Derek Schrader for 6th
all-time in games played (113). Most importantly, it was a win. They
don’t all have to be award winning performances; sometimes you have
these games.
After Block, it was Cook and Ebelherr each adding a pair of three
pointers for six, Bowers added five, with Hopp chipping in with four
in limited minutes and Perry scoring three.
So, now the tough part begins. The back-to-back portion starts on
Friday night in Chatham as the Titans and the Railers are the only
undefeated teams left in the tournament as Glenwood beat
Jacksonville XXXX. Friday night at Chatham, both teams playing very
good basketball, yep, sounds like a typical night of CS8 basketball.
“We certainly hope we can have our 6th man there,” Alexander said.
Game time is set for 8:00pm. As things set up now, the winner of
this one will have the inside track to walking away with the title.
LINCOLN (48)
Block 11 0-1 24, Cook 2 0-0 6, Ebelherr 2 0-0 6, Bowers 2 1-2 5,
Hopp 2 0-0 4, Perry 1 0-0. TEAM 20 1-3 48. 3pt FG 7 (Block 2, Cook
2, Ebelherr 2, Perry).
ROCHESTER (35)
Stallworth 14, Conrady 8, Handlin 6, McClintock 4, Fisher 3. TEAM 15
0-0 35. 3pt FG 5 (Handlin 2, Stallworth 2, Fisher).
LCHS 11-13-12-12 48
ROCHESTER 11-7-9-8 35
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