Railers handle short-handed MacArthur
LINCOLN 53, MACARTHUR 42

[January 28, 2017]  In their first two meetings this season, Decatur MacArthur juniors Amir and Armon Brummett have averaged a combined 28 points a game against the Railers. The better you handle the Brummett twins will determine how much of a chance you have at beating the Generals. On Friday night, Lincoln did not have to worry about the top two scorers or guard Randy Thaxton as the trio was in street clothes. Unconfirmed reports indicate they were being disciplined by their coach and their absence may have been the difference as Lincoln travelled to Decatur and headed back home with a 53-42 win over MacArthur.

The Railers were definitely going to be facing a much different MacArthur team, but a team nonetheless looking for revenge after Lincoln knocked off the Generals by 16 about ten days ago. In the end, the Railers hit MacArthur with both balanced offense and rebounding to get the win. Lincoln used an 18-6 fourth quarter run to improve to 15-7 on the season while moving in to third place in the conference with a mark of 9-3, trailing only Lanphier and Southeast.

It was not just a run at the end as Lincoln jumped out early to a 9-3 lead. The Generals, trying to adjust, at least for one night, without sixty percent of their starters seemed a bit out of sync to start the game and the Railers took advantage. Ben Grunder got Lincoln on the board before Nolan Hullinger hit a three from the right corner. Keenan Ingram answered with MacArthur’s first points, cutting the lead to 5-3. The Railers extended to a six point advantage when Titus Cannon scored on a layup off an inbounds pass while Isaiah Bowers followed up a Grunder miss with a putback on an offensive rebound. Bowers was not close to the play when Grunder’s shot went up but Bowers came flying in out of nowhere to grab the ball and put it back in. It was the start of a good night for Lincoln’s leading scorer. A basket from Adrian Williams rounded out the first quarter scoring at 9-5, but it was the start of a big run for Williams and the Generals.

Williams took over as the dominant play for the hosts and Lincoln had no answer for him in the second quarter. The 6’5” junior scored all nine points in the second for MacArthur giving him 11 in a row. After his third basket of the quarter on an offensive rebound, the game was knotted at 11.

Coming in to the contest, Lincoln senior Bryson Kirby had been on quite a roll from three point range. Kirby came in with three straight games of five three pointers so MacArthur came ready, putting their best defenders on Kirby. Even though he didn’t get many looks from long range, when he did he joined in the scoring fun as he hit two in a row to extend the lead to 17-12. A low scoring first half ended with Grunder sinking a pair of free throws giving Lincoln a 19-14 lead. The Railers have certainly enjoyed being up at the intermission as their win gives them a 13-1 record when ahead at the break.

It felt as though Lincoln should have been up by more than just five based on all the opportunities in the lane. “We missed a lot of point blank shots, a lot of easy ones,” Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said. “ Of course we’ve been doing that all year. We’ve got to start taking advantage of those opportunites.”

Well, if it didn’t feel like five points was enough of a lead, it sure didn’t feel right when MacArthur scored the first five of the second half on a layup and uncontested three pointer and quicker than you could settle in from the concession stand. The Generals had tied the game at 19. In a much more scoring oriented quarter, Bowers put Lincoln back up with a score only to have Zach Briggs tie the game back up with another easy score. Grunder, who had a lane to the basket all night, played aggressive all evening and his field goal put Lincoln up 23-21.

Kirby, who was held to just the two early threes, got an easy one next with a steal and layup to push the margin to four. Baskets from Williams and Ingram keyed a 7-2 run, with Ray Neal hitting a shot with 2:43 left to give the Generals their first and only lead of the night at 28-27. Falling behind may have been just the incentive Lincoln needed as a 6-0 run to end the quarter, finished up by a another layup from Bowers, sent the Railers into the fourth up five at 33-28.

The two big scorers on the night from MacArthur, Ingram and Williams, did what they could to hold the Generals close. A three from Ingram and another easy score from Williams sandwiched around a score from Bowers pulled the game to only two at 35-33. Just like Williams owned the second quarter, the fourth belonged to Bowers. The junior had ample chances to drive to the basket and did so with attitude, daring MacArthur to get in his way. Two consecutive strong drives resulted in baskets and a free throw for Bowers. On his way to a team high 15 points, Bowers missed on the first chance but not on the next for a three point play and Lincoln had suddenly climbed to a 41-33 lead.

After a miss from MacArthur, the Railers took their first double digit lead of the night as Cannon found a wide open Drew Bacon heading downcourt like a wide open wide receiver. Bacon scored on a layup before Ingram ended the run with a three. Grunder again maneuvered his way in the lane, connecting for another easy score. Ingram continued to do what he could to keep the home squad close and his last three of the night got MacArthur (12-7, 8-4) as close as they would get the rest of the way at 45-39.

Bowers started the final run for Lincoln with a basket before Grunder hit a pair of free throws with 1:18 to go to push the lead back to ten at 49-39. Bacon scored Lincoln’s last basket on pinpoint passing from Kirby to Bowers and then to Bacon.

It certainly was not the prettiest of wins, but a win is a win. Even though the offense has had up and down moments, the defense has been sold throughout. Coming into Friday, Lincoln had been surrendering about 39 points a game and doing the same job helped them pick up win number 25. “Well, you always hear that defense wins championships,” Alexander said. “We can do this every night. It is also important to take care of the basketball. We, as coaches, told the team that if we had more than eight turnovers, we were going to run.” I guess they got enough running in practice this week as Lincoln gave up the ball only seven times.

Bowers led on Friday night with 15 points while Grunder finished with 12 points. Cannon had a solid night with nine, with Kirby scoring eight. Bacon chipped in with six off the bench while Hullinger had an early three.

Lincoln is back in action Saturday night as they are back home at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium to face Normal Community. Sophomores will tip at 5:00pm with the varsity set for 6:30pm. The sophomores also picked up a victory with a 54-45 win to get the evening started. It’s hard to believe this game will wrap up the January schedule. Where has the season gone?

With the win, and wins on Friday night by Lanphier, Southeast, SHG, and Eisenhower, the conference looks this way: Lanphier 10-1, Southeast 9-2, Lincoln 9-3, MacArthur 8-4, Eisenhower 7-5, Jacksonville 6-7, Glenwood 4-8, SHG 3-8, Springfield 2-9, Rochester 1-10.

LINCOLN (53)

Bowers 7 1-2 15, Grunder 4 4-4 12, Cannon 3 3-4 9, Kirby 3 0-0 8, Bacon 2 2-2 6, Hullinger 1 0-0 3, Sloan 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0-0 0, Hamblin 0 0-0 0. TEAM 20 10-13 53. 3pt FG 3 (Kirby 2, Hullinger).

MACARTHUR (42)

Williams 15, Ingram 15, Neal 5, Briggs 4, Woodley 3. TEAM 17 2-4 42. 3pt FG 6 (Ingram 4, Woodley, Neal).

LCHS 9-10-14-20 53
MACARTHUR 5-9-14-14 42

[Jeff Benjamin]