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 Playing in front of one of the smallest Railer crowds in a number of
years, as most of Railer Nation made the trip to UIS to support the
Lady Railers in their supersectional battle against Highland, the
Railers came on with a point to prove to the Maroons. Clinton was
playing in the 3A level of the tournament for the first time. And it
showed.
Lincoln jumped out to an early 5-0 lead on a lay-in from Ben Grunder
and a three-point play from senior Aron Hopp. After Clinton hit the
first of their six threes on thenight to get on the board, Garrett
Aeilts hit from long range to put the Railers up 8-3. The Maroons
(7-20) climbed to within two with another three pointer. From there,
Lincoln owned, in every way possible, the rest of the first half.
The Railers exploded on a 26-3 run to blow the game open. If Clinton
thought they were good from outside, they saw what great was during
the run. Hopp hit only his fifth three of the season followed by
three in a row from Lincoln’s leading three point shooter KJ Fry.
Fry was feeling comfortable from just about anywhere in Roy S.
Anderson Gymnasium and Clinton had no answer for him. After his
third, Lincoln was already up 22-6.
A basket from Peyton McCubbin momentarily slowed the run, but
Lincoln’s quickness on defense, quick hands, and rebounding left
Clinton with little hope of getting back into the game. The Railers
finished the first in nice fashion as Hopp drove the baseline and
flipped the pass to a cutting Isaiah Bowers in the lane. Bowers
jumped in the air, caught the pass, and flipped it over the front of
the rim to give the Railers the 24-8 lead at the end of eight
minutes.
The onslaught continued with Bowers scoring the first Lincoln points
in the second. Fry scored on a layup after being the recipient of a
perfect no look pass from Hopp. Lincoln’s leading scorer appeared to
be playing with a new found fire and emotion on Monday. Could it be
the finality of one’s senior season has allowed Hopp, as well as the
other Lincoln seniors, to find another gear and try to put this team
on their shoulders? I would not bet against it.
Hopp put Lincoln up 30-8 with a driving reverse layup. A McCubbin
free throw was the first offense for the Maroons in the second. Hopp
scored two more of his game high 18 points which was followed by a
rebound and putback from Drew Bacon. Tanner White did finally get a
basket for Clinton, a three pointer, that sent the teams into
halftime with Lincoln up 34-12.
To give you an idea of how much Clinton struggled on Monday night,
their best run of the game came at the beginning of the second half
with a 5-2 run, cutting the Lincoln lead to 36-17. That stretch was
halted with a three from Nolan Hullinger, which started a 7-0 burst.
The last four of the run came from Hopp. The Lincoln senior scored
the Railers’ final six points of the quarter to lead his squad to a
45-23 lead after three.
With the game in hand, and a third and most important battle with
Southeast on tap for Wednesday, Coach Alexander had the luxury of
getting some of his regular players a bit of a rest while getting
some of the bench personnel some important court time. They put in
the time as well as the regulars and now that it is tourney time,
you never know when someone will be called on the make a
contribution.
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Titus Cannon got the fourth quarter scoring started and, after Fry
and Hopp scored their final baskets of the night before heading to
the bench, Lincoln was out to a 51-24 advantage. Clinton’s McCubbin
got their only field goal of the quarter before the Railers finished
off the scoring and the Maroons. David Biggs scored inside before
Tate Sloan hit for three from the right side. Bacon added a driving
layup before Sam Birnbaum put the end to the scoring with a left
side three pointer, Lincoln’s eighth of the night.
From the start of this one, you could feel that Clinton felt
overmatched and it showed on the scoreboard. But, don’t cast them
aside too quickly as their sophomore squad finished 20-0. Good
things may be ahead for Clinton, but that will have to wait until
next year.
As for Lincoln, the Railers put eleven in the scoring column. If
they can do the same on Wednesday night, it may mean they have
finally gotten the best of Southeast this season. In the previous
matchups, the Spartans won by 16 in Springfield and by just two last
week in Lincoln.
Hopp led the Railers with 18, while Fry joined in double figures
with 13. Bowers added eight and Bacon chipped in with four. Lincoln
got three apiece from Aeilts, Hullinger, Sloan, and Birnbaum, while
Grunder, Biggs, and Cannon each scored two.
As mentioned, next for the Railers is Southeast. The Spartans are
the two seed in the sectional and the highest seeded team at the
Lincoln regional. Game time is set for 7:00pm at Roy S. Anderson
Gymnasium. Tuesday night, the matchup will be a battle of Decatur as
Eisenhower will face off with MacArthur. The Panthers were winners
over Taylorville on Monday night.
As has been mentioned, much of Railer Nation was down in Springfield
to support the Lady Railers in their game against Highland.
Unfortunately, the Lady Railers fell to the Bulldogs 48-40. The Lady
Railers should be very proud of their accomplishments this season
and taking Railer Nation on a fun ride. I have no influence on this
but I think it would be well-deserved if halftime on Wednesday would
feature a welcome home recognition and thank you to the Lady Railers.
Again, not my call, but they have earned it and I would love to see
it at Roy S. Anderson.
LINCOLN (61)
Hopp 8 1-1 18, Fry 5 0-0 13, Bowers 4 0-0 8, Bacon 2 0-0 4, Aeilts 1
0-0 3, Hullinger 1 0-0 3, Sloan 1 0-0 3, Birnbaum 1 0-0 3, Grunder 1
0-0 2, Biggs 1 0-0 2, Cannon 1 0-0 2, Morris 0 0-0 0. TEAM 26 1-1
61. 3pt FG 8 (Fry 3, Aeilts, Hopp, Hullinger, Sloan, Birnbaum).
CLINTON (26)
Overton 9, White 8, McCubbin 5, Baker 3, Kitzling 1. TEAM 8 4-6 26.
3pt FG 6 (Overton 3, White 2, Baker).
LCHS 24-10-11-16 61
CLINTON 8-4-11-3 26
[Jeff Benjamin] |
