Railers pick up non-conference win

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[February 08, 2016]  by Jeff Benjamin

The Lincoln Railers used a 16-0 run over the course of the second and third quarters on Saturday night to take control of a non-conference matchup to knock off Aurora Central Catholic 65-37. The win allowed the Railers to bounce back after Friday night’s conference loss to MacArthur and improve the season record to 13-10.

For the second night in a row, sophomore Isaiah Bowers set a season high. After scoring 20 on Friday night, he led the Railers with 22 against the Chargers. Bowers has been on a good run as of late, averaging 17 points over the last six games.

Facing non-familiar opponents allows the Railers to use some plays that are normally ineffective against conference foes, teams that see Lincoln year in and year out. One of those plays, the alley oop lob, got the scoring started when Aron Hopp scored off a lob pass from KJ Fry. After a Bowers free throw, he hit the first of his three treys on the night to jump the Railers to a 6-0 lead. The Chargers bounced back quickly as sophomore Kyle Czerak hit two three-pointers to tie the game at six. After the teams traded baskets, Fry hit from long range to put Lincoln up 11-8. Undeterred by the Lincoln quick start, Aurora got scores from Czerak and Evan Shuetz to give them their first, and only, lead of the evening at 12-11.

Lincoln (13-10) enjoyed the lead going to the second quarter as Bowers scored off an offensive rebound to make it 13-12. Since it worked so well for the first score of the game, the Railers went back to the well with the alley oop lob for the initial score of the second as Bowers scored on a lay-in on the pass from Bryson Kirby. The Chargers used a three from their leading scorer Brett Czerak to tie the game at 15. He came in fresh off scoring his 1,000th career point last week, but he did not get many open looks against the Railer defense on Saturday. Bowers moved to the top of the key for another three, en route to a ten point period. A basket from Hopp stretched the Lincoln lead to five.

Brett Czerak hit another three to pull the Chargers within two and it felt as though their leading scorer was about to get on a roll. Bowers made the score 23-18 with another three before one of the key plays of the game happened. As Chargers’ point guard Donovan Reid was attempting to free himself from a trap, he was hit in the face by an inadvertent elbow from one of the Railer defenders. He immediately reached for his face, but play continued until the officials stopped play due to blood on Reid and the court. After a brief delay for clean up, Reid was being attended to by the trainer while the Chargers had to rely on a back up at point guard. Any time a team loses the services of a point guard, there is always the chance the team will not function as well offensively. That’s what happened to Aurora.

After a turnover, Fry missed a pair of shots, one on an offensive rebound, but was rewarded for his board work by getting open on the same possession and hitting a three from the left corner. It was part of a 12-0 run to end the first half that allowed the Railers to expand their two point lead to a 14 point advantage at 32-18. During the stretch, the Chargers were not able to find a good offensive rhythm. Before the injury, Brett Czerak was starting to find his shooting touch but with Reid on the bench, Czerak was forced to work harder for his shot opportunities and the Railer defense would not allow that.

The Lincoln run continued at the start of the second half on a pass from Ben Grunder to Bowers and another lob play from Aeilts to Hopp. Up 36-18, Lincoln saw Zack Smith end the scoring drought for the Chargers at the 5:55 mark. After Grunder completed a three-point play, Lincoln was ahead 42-23. The rest of the quarter belonged to Fry who hit three threes to push his season total of makes from behind the arc to 52 and put the Railers up by 20 at 48-28. Fry finished the night with 15 points.

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On Friday night, Lincoln coach Neil Alexander was concerned about the decision making in the MacArthur game and the chance his Railers would come out flat on Saturday night. “Our decision making tonight was better, making the right pass,” Alexander said, “but there are some things we still need to work on. We did not come out flat which was good for us.”

A play I am sure did not bring a smile to Coach Alexander’s face started the fourth quarter scoring as Kyle Czerak was fouled while making a three pointer. His free throw completed the four point play and quickly cut the lead to 16. A spin move by Hopp on the baseline that left his defender twisted like a pretzel allowed the senior to drain a jumper from the baseline. After the final basket of the night by Brett Czerak pulled Aurora (12-9) to within 50-34, the Railers put on a game finishing run of 15-3 to put a wrap on the night. Kirby was able to hit a three during the run, while David Biggs came in off the bench and tallied Lincoln’s last six points to put away the 65-47 victory.

“It was good to play a style we haven’t seen in a while,” Alexander said. “We haven’t played against a zone in a while. But this team has to play 32 minutes, not 28, or 26, or even down to 20. We need a full game.”

Three Railers hit double figures with Bowers leading with 22 and Fry adding 15. Hopp added 14 with Biggs scoring six, Grunder putting in five, and Kirby scoring three.

The Railers are back in action twice next weekend starting with a conference game at SHG on Friday night. The varsity is set to tip-off at 7:30 while the sophomores, 70-30 winners on Saturday night, get the evening started at 6:00pm. The Railers were 67-40 winners over SHG on December 18 when Hopp and Aeilts combined for 35 points.
 


A couple of other notes. Congratulations to Carroll Catholic as they continue on in state tournament play. The Crusaders were 47-40 winners on Saturday night and will play for the state championship on Thursday night. Game time is 7:30 and is at East Peoria Junior High School.

Also, on February 20, the Railers will be traveling to play Joliet Central. An effort is being made to put together a charter bus for fans to take up to the game. The cost is reportedly $25 and the seating is limited to 55, first come, first serve. If you have any questions, contact Michelle Ryan who is leading the charter bus effort.

LINCOLN (65)

Bowers 7 5-8 22, Fry 5 0-0 15, Hopp 6 2-2 14, Biggs 2 2-2 6, Grunder 1 3-3 5, Kirby 1 0-0 3, Aeilts 0 0-0 0, O’Donoghue 0 0-0 0, Hullinger 0 0-0 0, Bacon 0 0-0 0, Cannon 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0-0 0, Sloan 0 0-0 0. TEAM 22 12-15 65. 3pt FG 9 (Fry 5, Bowers 3, Kirby).

AURORA CENTRAL CATHOLIC (37)

B.Czerak 13, K.Czerak 12, Faltz 5, Shuetz 3, Smith 2, Bush 2. TEAM 14 2-3 37. 3pt FG 7 (K.Czerak 3, B.Czerak 3, Faltz).

LCHS 13-19-16-17 65
AURORA CC 12-6-10-9 37

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