Lincoln finds continued success on the road

[February 19, 2018]  Back in 1983, the Chicago White Sox surprised everyone by winning the American League West.  For most of the season, the squad worked under the motto of “winning ugly.”  They may not have played the best defense, hit the ball as needed, or pitched well on any given night.  However, in the end, more times than not, the game ended up in the win column. 

If any members of that team were on hand to watch the Lincoln Railers on Saturday night in Decatur, they may have considered the wins during their campaign works of art. 

No, it was not pretty.  At times, it was a downright struggle.  Was this the team that executed to perfection in almost every facet of the game on Tuesday with the win over Bloomington?  Nevertheless, the Railers did what they had to do and picked up a 44-37 win over the Panthers of Decatur Eisenhower. 

In very similar fashion to the night before in Taylorville, the Railers struggled in the early going.  Lincoln was finally able to put together a solid second half to pick up the win.  Saturday, Eisenhower just would not go away, a tone that was set early in the contest.

“On their first possession, they had five shots, four offensive rebounds and then ended it with a three pointer,” Coach Neil Alexander said after the game.  “In fact, in their first two possessions, they took eight shots.  I don’t care what kind of defense you think you are playing, you give a team that many shots per possession and it’s going to be a long night.”

After Eisenhower took an early 6-0 lead on two of the team’s nine threes on the night, senior Isaiah Bowers finally got the Railers on the board with 3:22 left in the first.  Another offensive rebound and putback by Keon Jones put the Panthers back up by six at 8-2.  The Railers turned to outside shooting to tie the game on threes from Ben Grunder and Tate Sloan.  However, another three from Eisenhower (10-18) pushed the margin back to 11-8.  Lincoln was able to climb back within one as Bowers found Jermaine Hamlin on a lob and lay-in as the horn sounded at the end of the first quarter.

For much of the game, the Railers were making uncharacteristic mistakes.  Whether it was bad passing, not communicating, sloppy ball handling, it seemed a long week of basketball might have been catching up with Lincoln.  “We have to be mentally prepared to play, we weren’t tonight and we weren’t completely ready last night,” Alexander said.  “When you are mentally prepared you can be consistent, and if you’re not consistent you will find yourself losing one that you should win.  And, this time of the year, that will be in a regional and you have no chance to make it up.”

Jones, who led Eisenhower with 11 points, hit another long three to start the quarter and push the lead to four at 14-10.  Hamlin continued his strong play on the evening with an offensive rebound and score inside.  The Panthers scored to go up 16-12 before a layup from Bowers brought the game back to two.  Eisenhower’s main weapon was the three pointer with nine of their 13 field goals being from behind the arc.  In stark contrast to how the Lincoln defense has been playing as of late, the Panthers were usually wide open and standing right on the line.  They definitely took advantage of a Lincoln defense that was having an off night 

But, these are your Railers, and one way or another, during this ten-game winning streak they find a way.  After a free throw from Grunder, the senior hit his second three of the night to pull Lincoln within one at 19-18.  Over the past few games, it feels as though Grunder has been the Railer to put the team on his back and Saturday he did it again.  With 2:37 left in the first half, Lincoln grabbed their first lead of the night on three from the corner from Drew Bacon.  The lead was short lived as Quylan Young scored to tie the game at 21, the score we took to the locker room.

At the start of the second half, it looked as though the plan was to go the basket against the Panthers.  Although Lincoln’s first possession came up empty, the next time down was a carbon copy of the first, this one resulting in a layup from Bacon.  Grunder continued the nice start to the half with another three, on his way to a game high 15 points.  Give Eisenhower credit.  Other teams in similar situations have folded under the pressure of the Lincoln defense but the Panthers were holding their ground.  Another three cut the lead back to two before a free throw from Bowers and drive from Grunder extended the margin to five at 29-24.  The way the game had been going, five points felt like 15.

Eisenhower continued to thrash the Lincoln defense from long range, cutting their deficit to 29-27.  Lincoln ended the quarter up 31-27 after Bowers found Titus Cannon wide open off an out of bounds play.  Bowers, who hit double figures with 10, got the first three of the fourth on a free throw and layup.  Up 34-27, Lincoln’s biggest lead of the night presented the Railers with a chance to finally put the Panthers away.  However, a drive from Cameron Rowe cut the lead back to five before Hamlin got a pass on the baseline, put his head and shoulder down to clear space and he went up strong to give the Railers a 36-29 lead.

Young’s basket cut the game back to 36-31 before Grunder split a pair of free throws to move the margin back to six.  KJ Taliferro drained a wide open three to cut the lead in half at 37-34.  Lincoln went to a pair of old reliables to put the game out of reach.  Grunder’s drive to the basket and a 15-footer from Bowers stretched the lead to 41-34.  As Eisenhower was trying to make one final push, the game slipped through their hands with 53 seconds left.  After Cannon was fouled near the time line by Rowe, the Eisenhower sophomore tried a slight intimidation tactic by swiping at the ball that Cannon was cradling.  From our position doing the broadcast, I don’t know if Rowe also said something but his actions were enough to warrant his second technical foul of the night and an early exit from the game.

Cannon stepped to the line and made both free throws from the foul and then split the technical shots to give Lincoln a ten point cushion at 44-34.  The Railers, among other struggles on the night, had a rough evening at the line going only 7 of 14 from the line, missing their last four and connecting on just 5 of 11 in the fourth quarter.  One final three from Eisenhower gave us the final score of 44-37.

Maybe after all the great basketball this team has been playing, they were due one of these nights.  However, we know Coach Alexander preaches that you can’t afford one of those nights especially this time of year.  If anything, as Alexander said, “maybe they can learn something from this one.  That you can’t just show up and win.”  Yes, let’s hope so.  You let teams hang around and they start believing they can win and your season can be over just like that.   

Grunder and Bowers combined for 25 points with Hamlin scoring six and Cannon and Bacon each adding five.  Sloan rounded out the scoring with his lone three of the night.

So, we’ve come down to this.  Something that has been coming since the Monday before Thanksgiving when the season started.  The regular season finale is set for Friday night when Normal West comes to town.  It will be Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night.  Varsity is set to tip at 7:30 but there could be a slight delay with the Senior Night activities honoring the basketball, band, cheer, and dance seniors in between games.  I encourage you to be there to express your gratitude for the hard work of all the students that make the tradition of Lincoln Railer basketball as rich as it is.

LINCOLN (44)

Grunder 5 2-3 15, Bowers 4 2-7 10, Hamlin 3 0-0 6, Cannon 1 3-4 5, Bacon 2 0-0 5, Sloan 1 0-0 3, Dewberry 0 0-0 0.  TEAM 16 7-14 44.   3pt FG 5 (Grunder 3, Sloan, Bacon).

EISENHOWER (37)

Jones 11, Walker 9, Taylor 5, Young 4, Chargois 3, Taliferro 3, Rowe 2,  TEAM  13 2-4 37.  3pt FG 9 (Jones 3, Walker 3, Taliferro, Taylor, Chargois).

LCHS                                      10-11-10-13        44

EISENHOWER                     11-10-6-10           37

GAME EXTRAS

-          Isaiah Bowers joined the 400 point club with his season total now at 404 points.

-          With the win, in related categories, Lincoln is now

o        1-2 when tied at the half

o        21-0 when they have more free throw attempts

o        9-1 when scoring 40-49 points

o        18-1 when holding opponents to under 40 points

o        6-3 on Saturdays

o        7-0 in February

o        14-2 when making 4-6 threes in a game

o        8-1 while wearing the Green uniforms

o        14-0 when there are two Railers in double figures

o        10-0 in true road games

[Jeff Benjamin]