Railers Saturday night
Lincoln comes up short on road in Normal
NORMAL WEST 34, LINCOLN 33

[February 12, 2017]  Going into Saturday night’s non-conference matchup at Normal West, the Lincoln Railers knew they would be getting their first look at highly touted Normal West sophomore Francis Okoro. The 6’9” second year player is rated by some scouting services as the number five sophomore in the country. Knowing they would have to adjust to Okoro on both the offensive and defensive ends. Little did they know the biggest play of the night would come for the smallest player on the Wildcats’ roster.

Normal West’s 5’7” sophomore Malik Tucker converted a go-ahead offensive rebound with 1.5 seconds to go and then made the steal as the Railers tried to make an inbounds pass for a last second shot as the Wildcats held on for a 34-33 win.

All the good the Railers had on Friday night with shooting (72 percent from the field including 91 percent from behind the arc) came back to Earth against West as Lincoln shot 41 percent from the field with only 28 percent from three point range. In a close game throughout where neither team led in the second half by more than four points, a simple putback of a missed shot tipped the scoreboard in the favor of the hosts.

“Plain and simple, we didn’t box out, didn’t get the rebound,” Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said. “That’s what it comes down to. In these last possession type games, you have to find a way to make a play and tonight we did not. These guys played hard and the effort was good, but it’s one we could have won.”

One night after Lincoln connected on 10 of 11 three-pointers, the presence of the 6’9” Okoro and the tightly packed defense forced the Railers to focus much of their first half offense from behind the three-point line. After the Wildcats jumped out to a 6-0 lead, senior Bryson Kirby picked up where he left off against Lanphier with his first three of the night, putting Lincoln on the board at the 3:48 mark. The danger of playing Okoro was how dangerous he was if he got the ball down low. Most of the first quarter, the Wildcats did not emphasize getting the ball to him. However, when the ball was on the boards, Okoro could certainly go get it. After his first three points of the night, West had pushed out to an 11-3 lead.

Kirby brought Lincoln closer with yet another three. Trailing by five going into the second quarter, the Railers continued on their run when Drew Bacon found success on the baseline with a reverse layup behind Okoro while Kirby hit another three, this one from the volleyball line, to tie the game at 11. A 14-footer from Isaiah Bowers gave the junior his first points of the night and put Lincoln on top for the first time at 13-11. Malik Tucker put the Wildcats (16-8) back up with a three pointer. The lead swung back to the Railers on the strength of a top of the key three from Nolan Hullinger.

Okoro’s only field goal of the second quarter tied the game at 16. Lincoln did have a chance to take the lead into intermission but a favorite set, an alley-oop lob attempt, was disrupted by Okoro and the teams headed into the half tied at 16. The previous night, Lincoln’s defense held Lanphier to just 16 points as well. However, the offense was clicking much better and the 33 they had at the half against the Lions would be their final total on this night.

The second half was closely contested throughout. Ben Grunder’s 15-footer put Lincoln up early in the half. At the half, the coaching staff made adjustments to focus on the getting the ball to the high post more as the Wildcats were putting more energy into forcing Kirby further off the three-point line. However, in doing so, that left the high post more available for Lincoln’s offense. Okoro started to assert himself in the third quarter, his first basket tying the game at 18. A quick-handed defensive play led to a steal and layup from Titus Cannon, but again, more Okoro and another tie. On their next possession, Okoro was able to keep the ball alive where it found its way to Donzell Johnson whose three gave the lead back to Normal West.

Another high post jumper from Bowers cut the lead to one before Nate Duckworth drained a three to extend the lead to four. The Railers tied the game on another reverse layup from Bacon and yet another 15-footer from Grunder. Okoro ended a strong third quarter giving the lead to the Wildcats with an easy two hand dunk as West took the advantage 28-26. Lincoln’s Tate Sloan drove the lane to start fourth and found Bowers on the low block. Bowers would be the only offense for the Railers in the fourth.

Okoro again scored inside, putting West up 30-28. Bowers hit a three in the corner to give Lincoln their first lead since 16-14. On the play, Bowers was driven out of bounds on the shot but no foul was called. Once again, the offense came from Okoro. The sophomore scored again down low to put West up 32-31. After working the ball around, it was Bowers again to the rescue, this time a basket with 29 seconds to go. With time running down, most probably thought, including me, that the plan for West would be to get the ball to Okoro and let him either score inside or at least get fouled. Instead the offense came from a three point shot that missed the mark badly to the left. On the rebound, everyone had been accounted for.

Except Malik Tucker.

Tucker was able to slide inside for a backside rebound and flip the rebound off the glass and in. The clock operator was a bit slow on the button as time expired. However, the referees got together to decide there was still 1.5 seconds left. After a number of timeouts from each time to set up the final play, both on offense and defense. Eventually, Grunder tried to get the ball inbounds for Lincoln to have a last shot but Tucker stepped in front of the pass and the clock officially reached zero and West escaped with the win.

The Railers were held to just 33 points, their first half total against Lanphier. The team totals were very similar as well. Both teams made 14 field goals with five coming from three point range. The difference? West made one of their three free throws while Lincoln did not attempt a free throw on the evening.

The Railers had their chances but it was one of those nights. Again, when shots aren’t falling, things can be a bit tougher.

Bowers led the Railers with 11 points, while Kirby had 9, all in the first half. Grunder and Bacon added four, while Hullinger scored three and Cannon added two.

Lincoln is next in action on Tuesday night at 7:30 against Decatur Eisenhower. The Panthers will visit Roy S. Anderson hoping to win the season series over the Railers. Lincoln fell by seven down in Collinsville but came away with a five point victory during the Central State Eight Tournament. The game is also the final game before the final information is submitted for the sub sectional seeding meeting. The loss on Saturday may make a difference. “I thought with a win tonight we had a good chance at a three seed,” Alexander said. “Now, we leave it up to hoping we get a win over Eisenhower. That would give us two out of three over Eisenhower, over MacArthur. We’ve beat Lanphier, but now we have ten losses where some of the others have 7, 8, 9. That could make a difference. I see us now maybe a 4, a 5, maybe a 6. It’s really a mess with a lot of teams bunched together.”

By this time next week, we will not only know the seed but the regional location (either Lanphier or Taylorville) and the brackets of how the games will play out.

LINCOLN (33)

Bowers 5 0-0 11, Kirby 3 0-0 9, Grunder 2 0-0 4, Bacon 2 0-0 4, Hullinger 1 0-0 3, Cannon 1 0-0 2, Sloan 0 0-0 0. TEAM 14 0-0 33. 3pt FG 5 (Kirby 3, Bowers , Hullinger).

NORMAL WEST (34)

Okoro 15, Duckworth 6, Johnson 6, Tucker 5, Sherman 2. TEAM 14 1-3 34. 3pt FG 5 (Duckworth 2, Johnson 2, Tucker).

LCHS 6-10-10-7 33
NORMAL WEST 11-5-12-6 34

[Jeff Benjamin]