Railers get the 60-49 win over Decatur Eisenhower on Senior Night

[February 17, 2019] 

The Railers hosted Decatur Eisenhower Saturday for Senior Night and while the Panthers made the game a little too close for fan's liking in the fourth quarter, Lincoln came away with the 60-49 win in the end.

Following Railer introductions that included senior Wyatt Collier running out first. Lincoln's other senior, Jermaine Hamlin, won the tip and the two teams were off and running.

Lincoln jumped out to a 6-2 lead over the Panthers on threes by Kameron Whiteman and Will Ewald.

Dylan Singleton and Kaden Froebe were quick to add to the offense and it was an 11-4 lead and a timeout by the Panthers.

The first quarter scoring closed on a three by Panthers sophomore R.J. Walker and an 11-7 Lincoln lead was in the books.

Lincoln was a bit more fired up in the second quarter. Singleton's huge rebound among the big guys was good for the putback and a 13-7 score.

Froebe's three extended that lead to 16-7.

Threes from Walker and Lunden Cook closed the gap 16-13 and while the Panthers have not reached double digit wins this season, they are young team hungry for competition. And they got plenty of competition from Hamlin under the basket in this game.

Hamlin threw down his first dunk of the night with 3:55 showing on the second quarter clock. Dunk no. 2 came at the 2:36 mark and Lincoln's lead was a solid 23-15.

Singleton stretched it to 25-18 after he popped nothing but net wide open from the free throw line, off the quick pass from Ewald.

Finally, as if Landon Hullinger hadn't done enough damage in the JV contest, he tossed up a corner three over a flying-through-the-air Panther and it was a perfect twine twirler good for a 28-18 Lincoln lead that would stick when the halftime buzzer sounded.

Whiteman was off to a quick start in the third quarter for Lincoln. He drained a three off the pass kicked out by Hamlin and Lincoln was having no difficulty running the lead to 31-18. Lincoln was in the midst of going on a scoring run and the Panthers were stunned.

Buckets from Ewald, Singleton and Hamlin paced the home team out to a 37-18 lead just before dunk no. 3 on the night.

Hamlin leaped to grab a high pass through the air from Whiteman and managed to rock the rim on his way down. The Railers had doubled up the Panthers 39-18 and there was no end in sight.

Whiteman hit a two, Wyatt Collier came off the bench to drop in two points on a baseline drive and finally it was Hamlin tossing in a bucket and getting the foul.

Hamlin is pretty much cash money at the free throw line and his extra point made the Lincoln lead 46-18 with two minutes yet to play in the third quarter.

The Panthers would finally get a basket from Brylan Phillips, who had all of the Panthers five points in the third quarter.

As the third quarter closed, it was Lincoln on top with the 47-23 lead. Dating back to the second quarter, Lincoln had went on a 21-0 run over Eisenhower.

Lincoln would stretch the game out to a 26-point lead early in the fourth quarter after Dreyden Pozsgai and Hullinger scored.

But then things went a little haywire. In a strange turn of events, Lincoln would be outscored 24-5 as the Panthers went on a run in the fourth quarter.

The Lincoln baskets were few and far between with Hullinger hitting one free throw and Noah Funk scoring the other four points in the midst of this madness. As Lincoln fans were set to head to the parking lot early, some stayed by the door to see the lead diminish to 56-49 with just :32 seconds left in the game.

Thankfully, Froebe and Singleton earned trips to the free throw line that relaxed the fans after they each went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Seconds later the 60-49 Lincoln win was in the books.

Kameron Whiteman and Jermaine Hamlin led Lincoln with 11 points each. Dylan Singleton tossed in 10 points and pulled down 8 rebounds.

Lincoln improves to 24-3 overall on the season.

The Panthers were led in scoring by R.J. Walker with 17 points. Brylan Phillips contributed 15 points.

Decatur Eisenhower falls to 9-18 overall on the season.

Lincoln won the JV contest 47-34 over Eisenhower. Landon Hullinger led Lincoln with 24 points. Brody Whiteman tossed in 12 points for the Railers.

The Railers will finish the regular season on the road next week at Normal West. Lincoln will play Normal West on Friday, February 22nd with the JV tip-off set for 6 p.m. Varsity is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 60

Whiteman 11
Hamlin 11
Singleton 10
Froebe 9
Hullinger 6
Ewald 5
Funk 4
Pozsgai 2
Collier 2

Eisenhower 49

Walker 17
Phillips 15
Cook 12
Rowe 5

JV scoring

Lincoln 47

Hullinger 24
B. Whiteman 12
McCraith 4
Tungate 4
Ferguson 3

Eisenhower 34

Patton 8
Ballozni 7
Howard 5
Reed 5
Shelley 4
Madding 2
Wilson 2
Harper 1

[Teena Lowery]