Furious comeback derails Lincoln

[January 14, 2018] 

In the late stages of the third quarter, the Lincoln Railers had built their largest lead of the night and were just eight minutes away from a key non-conference win. Unfortunately, the Waukegan Bulldogs would stage a furious comeback that included a 16-2 fourth quarter run and hold on into overtime to knock off the Railers 60-57.

When senior Isaiah Bowers split a pair of free throws late in the third quarter, the Railers had extended their advantage to 15 points at 43-28. After being down three at the end of the first quarter, Lincoln had outscored Waukegan 32-14 to build the lead. But, the fourth quarter proved to be all Waukegan and the Bulldogs prevailed by three.

“I thought we played well for the first three quarters and I was really proud of the kids’ effort and how hard they played,” Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said. “But, in the fourth quarter, they really attacked the offensive boards and turned up the pressure.” During the first three quarters, the Railer defense held Waukegan to just 30 points, a total they matched during the fourth quarter and overtime.

Bowers led the Railers with 25 points and hit the floater in the lane with 2.4 seconds left to send the game into overtime, but Bowers and his teammates were done in by Waukegan junior Bryant Brown. Brown scored a game-high 31 points including 25 points after halftime and the points for his squad in overtime. It was a battle of free throws in the overtime as neither team could put one in the basket. Brown sank all four of his attempts including two with 1.4 seconds left. Bowers’ attempt to tie the game from beyond half court glanced off the front of the rim and the Railers had let one get away from them. Against Waukegan, a school five and a half times the size of Lincoln, it’s not a loss that will hurt when seeding time comes around but it sure feels like a game that could have helped.

In a game where the two combatants answered each other’s scoring with some of their own, Waukegan (10-5) took a 19-17 with a three from Ja’Dyn Brown. From that point, Lincoln found their extra gear. After a 12-footer in the lane from Bowers tied the game, Isaac Dewberry hit a three from the top of the key before a steal led to another three, this one from Tate Sloan. The basket from Sloan gave Lincoln a 25-19 lead and forced a timeout from Waukegan. It didn’t help much as another turnover led to another 14-foot jumper from Bowers.

A Jaylin Cunningham basket ended the run momentarily before Dewberry split a pair of free throws to send Lincoln into halftime up 28-21. Coming into the game, the Railers (12-4) were a perfect 11-0 with a halftime lead and the early part of the third quarter gave an indication that trend would continue.

In the first half, the Railers had their chances to sink some inside shots but seemed intimidated by the size of Waukegan and put shots very high off the glass at a trajectory that lessened the chance of being successful. Learning from that, Ben Grunder scored two early baskets around a Sloan runner in the lane, pushing the Lincoln lead to 34-21 and forcing yet another timeout, bringing the boisterous crowd at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium to their feet. As Waukegan tried to comeback, Lincoln had a response for each score, holding their opponents at arms’ length through the rest of the quarter. Each basket seemed to be the floater in the lane variety as Bowers and Sloan found more success inside.

Early in the fourth, when Jermaine Hamlin hammered home a dunk, the Lincoln lead was 45-32. Waukegan turned up the pace and pressure and things starting changing very quickly and the crowd and coaches sensed it. After Bryant Brown’s basket at 6:39 cut the lead to single digits at 45-36, Coach Alexander called a timeout to settle his team and remind them the pace Waukegan is used to playing, compared earlier in the day to being similar to Lanphier.

 

A basket from Ja’Dyn Brown cut into the lead even more before Cunningham scored on an offensive rebound, the third attempt of the possession. By the time Bryant Brown scored on a drive with little resistance from the Lincoln defense, the Bulldogs had pulled within 45-44. Bowers certainly did his part in trying to keep this one in the win column. After finding little offense in the fourth up to that point, Bowers drained a three from just in front of the raucous student section to push the margin back to found at 48-44.

Each score from Waukegan was answered by Bowers including a 12-foot jumper that looked like the normal back door play run by Lincoln, but the senior surprised the defense by not driving but pulling up for the score. Grunder’s drive to the lane and score put Lincoln up 54-50 before the Bulldogs finally broke through and took the lead back, something they had not had since the first half. Bryant Brown scored six in a row, including three with 26 seconds to go to grab the lead back at 56-54.

With time ticking down, it was Bowers again for his final points of the night, a floater in the lane to tie the game with just over two seconds remaining. Waukegan’s final attempt was not close and overtime was looming. Lincoln grabbed their only lead of the extra session as Grunder split a pair of free throws before Bryant Brown hit two with 1:08 to go. AS the Railers were setting up for the potential game winning shot, an errant pass was tipped away and stolen. It took what seemed like forever before the Railers fouled Waukegan, valuable seconds that could have been used as the Railers looked to tie the game. It was not until 1.4 seconds remained on the clock before Bryant Brown was sent back to the line where he sank both shots again giving him 31 points and Waukegan a three point lead.

The night ended as Bowers’ shot glanced off the front of the rim. Had a few of those seconds from earlier been saved, the Railers may have gotten a closer and better look at a tying shot. However, this one is in the books and maybe lessons learned from this one can be knowledge to draw upon later in the season, possibly come tournament time.

Bowers led the Railers with his 25 points, while Grunder and Dewberry added nine. Titus Cannon scored seven points, with Sloan adding five and Hamlin chipping in with two.

With the rescheduling of the Charleston game to this coming Friday, the Railers will begin a nine day stretch with five games over that time including three on the road. The game at Charleston is set for a 7:30 tip with the sophomores starting at 6. The sophomore team was an 81-67 winner on Saturday night with Will Ewald leading the team with 30 points.

LINCOLN (57)

Bowers 11 1-2 25, Grunder 3 3-4 9, Dewberry 3 1-2 9, Cannon 3 1-1 7, Sloan 2 0-0 5, Hamlin 1 0-0 2, Bacon 0 0-0 0, Holliday 0 0-0 0. TEAM 23 6-9 57. 3pt FG 5 (Bowers 2, Dewberry 2, Sloan).

WAUKEGAN (60)

Br. Brown 31, Ja. Brown 14, Cunningham 8, Doyne 4, Jo. Brown 3. TEAM 21 14-17 60. 3pt FG 4 (Br. Brown 2, Ja Brown 2).

WAUKEGAN 14-7-9-26-4 60
LCHS 11-17-15-13-1 57

[by Jeff Benjamin]