Lincoln escapes with a 60-56 win over Danville for the Class 3A Regional Championship

[March 07, 2020]  Setting the stage

Railer fans were loud and proud Friday night as they filled their side of the gymnasium wall-to-wall and to the rafters inside the Robert Frank Sports Complex, home of the Bloomington Purple Raiders.

Appropriately, Lincoln (30-2), was the home team dressed in white and they would be taking on the Danville Vikings (16-15), dressed in maroon uniforms, for the 2020 Class 3A Regional Championship. The ever-so-faithful student body that makes up Railer Nation, also dressed in white to show their love and support for their team.

Lincoln and Danville met back on November 30, 2019 for the championship of the Lincoln/Eaton Thanksgiving Tournament. Lincoln won that contest 43-31. But that was just four games into the season, and both teams were much-improved since then, as fans were about to find out.

Friday night the Railer fans were just wanting a good game. Some fans had grown weary of the 30-plus point blowouts they had witnessed pretty much all season long.

Meanwhile, the Railer players were up for some good competition and they gave fans the game they wanted in Bloomington. Although it got a little too close for comfort near the end, the level of excitement and intense moments during this game was definitely what March Madness is all about. With every basket the Railers made the crowd literally exploded. It was awesome. And honestly, the Railers needed a test like this in the postseason.

The game

Danville won the tip. Following the tip, Danville quickly took a 5-0 lead on buckets by Robert Stroud and Devin Miles.

Kaden Froebe would score Lincoln’s first points of the game, a three at the 6:43 mark. Thirty seconds later Froebe fouled Martez Rhodes and sent him to the line to shoot two. Rhodes stretched the Vikings lead to 7-3.

It would take a corner three from Landon Hullinger to bring Lincoln back to within a point, 7-6 the score.

After Will Ewald was fouled on the fast break, he stepped to the line and gave Lincoln their first lead of the game, 8-7 the score with 4:55 on the clock.

The teams traded baskets back and forth for nearly three minutes and eventually found themselves in a tie, 15-15. Dylan Singleton’s free throws broke the tie, but a long three from Miles put the Vikings back on top.

Back-to-back buckets from Froebe finished the first quarter scoring and allowed Lincoln the 21-20 advantage after the first eight minutes of play. That first quarter proved to be worth the $5 price of admission.

Danville stole the lead quickly in the second quarter on a three from Delray Crowder, going on top 23-21. Around the five minute mark Danville went up 26-22 over Lincoln.

The Railers kept their poise and after a three by Landon Hullinger in the corner by the Vikings bench, the score was chiseled down to a 26-25 Danville lead. Froebe set up in the same corner as Hullinger on the next Railer possession and his three caused a frenzy in the gymnasium as Lincoln went on top 28-26.

The Railers used a fast break bucket by Ewald to finish out the 8-0 run and take a 30-26 lead. After a Danville free throw, Froebe really caused the fans to go nuts after he connected for a three from the top and the 33-27 lead was all Lincoln.

Singleton’s free throws with 1:27 left in the second quarter settled that score at 35-27 and the first half was in the books with Lincoln in the lead.

The first half flew by. Great defense was played by both teams and surprisingly the Vikings were sinking threes left and right. It was safe to say after the first sixteen minutes of play the Railers had met their match.

Lincoln brought their game inside the paint in the second half. The Railers exploded to the basket time and time again in the third quarter and eventually took a 43-32 lead over Danville. While Lincoln maintained a ten-point lead in the third quarter, the Vikings frustrations grew. By the end of the third quarter, a Vikings player shoved Hullinger to the floor, the referees ended up issuing a technical on Danville and both teams were called for fouls. After that dust settled Lincoln was still on top 50-41.

Just before the quarter closed, the Vikings used an alley-oop pass into Smith for the jam to ignite their fans into a frenzy. Lincoln held a 52-43 lead, but the Vikings still had a lot of fight left in them.

The fourth quarter saw a resurgence of the Vikings and before long the score was 52-48.

Froebe’s basket in the lane finally broke a scoring drought for Lincoln around the 4:00 minute mark. The Railer lead was stretched to 54-48. The Vikings got a huge three from Miles at the 3:38 mark and that led everyone to sit on the edge of their seats, holding their breath, with the score 54-51.

Ewald’s successful drive made the score 56-51 but there was still plenty of game left as the clock showed 3:12.

A foul on Ewald seconds later sent Miles to the line and he sank both his shots as Lincoln fans were a bit stunned at the 56-53 score late in the game. Just wait.

A Danville player swatted the ball out of the Railers hands and this allowed Smith to pick up the loose ball and take off running. Smith stopped shy of the three point line and drained the bucket. This time the tiny Danville crowd erupted as the scoreboard flashed 56-56.

But with 1:52 left to play in the game, Froebe danced through the lane and tossed the ball up and in for the 58-56 Lincoln lead. Maybe a lucky shot, but the ball going through the net was all that mattered.

Seconds later the Vikings would be called for double-dribble and the Railers got possession of the basketball. Huge.

With 1:30 left to play and the score 58-56, the ball was in Lincoln’s court. Froebe would get fouled as 57.5 remained in the game. He missed that front end of the 1-and-1. Ouch.

The ball hit the front of the rim and landed right into the hands of Stroud. Danville had the perfect opportunity to go ahead or at least tie, but they missed two chances in the paint.

With 27.0 seconds left, Ewald was fouled and he missed his free throw.

The rebound landed in the hands of Danville again. The Vikings get yet another chance to go ahead. They blew it.

A charge, the last of many throughout the game, was called on Rhodes with 9.3 seconds left in the game. A final blow that really knocked the wind out of Danville. Not to mention Hullinger. He took the charge but bounced up quickly.

Lincoln regains possession of the ball. Bringing the ball up the court with poise was Froebe. He tossed it to Ewald mid-court and quickly into the dribble he was fouled.
 
 It would be Ewald heading to the line with 5.4 seconds remaining. After a couple late fourth quarter misses from the line by the Railers, Ewald really had to take a deep breath here. The first one: nothing but net. The second one: same.
 
 Lincoln goes up 60-56. There was no celebration just yet, but there was a calmness among the Railer players on the court.
 
 On the inbounds Nathanael Hoskins would toss the ball to Smith as the five Railers waited patiently at the other end of the court. Smith quickly dribbled up the court. Lincoln allowed Smith to take the shot. He barely missed the three, it rolled in and out of the rim. Smith would catch his own rebound but miss the putback. It didn’t matter. Lincoln won 60-56 and the Railers began to celebrate.
 
 The celebration
 
 Froebe ran around the court like a middle-aged woman who had just won a car on The Price is Right. Ewald chased Froebe and before long he was met by Seth Tungate off the bench for a body slam. Whiteman was leaping in the air at center court. Hullinger put his hand in the air and pumped his fist to his family and friends in the crowd. Singleton clapped his hands and ran quickly towards the bench. Grunder and the rest of the bench exploded onto the court, dancing with excitement.
 
 After the players and coaches went through the line shaking hands with Danville, even Coach Al looked up into the crowd to spot Denise and flash her a smile, arms in the air.
 
 It was a battle worth celebrating and Lincoln proved they are more than up for a challenge in the postseason.
 
 Grab that championship plaque
 
 As the public address announcer invited a Railer representative to collect the championship plaque, Froebe stepped forward but didn’t hesitate to motion for the team to follow. They did.

 
 And seconds later Railer Nation stormed the court, surrounding the players, everyone jumping up and down. It took a while to get the group settled long enough for a picture with the hardware, but it was worth the wait. A lot of happy faces.
 
 Seniors speak
 
 Kaden Froebe, who led Lincoln with 23 points, was quick to react following the game, “We just fought 32 minutes,” said Froebe. “We worked way too long and way too hard to give up those last eight minutes. We knew it was going to be a dogfight going into the game and it was just so fun. I love games like this. I was tired of the blowouts. We were ready for a game like this. I think our guys showed up tonight and showed what we can do.”
 
 Kameron Whiteman also gathered his thoughts amidst the frenzy of fans. “I think down the stretch we need to make our free throws,” said Whiteman. “At the very end, we’ve got to be better than that. I remember them earlier in the year and they started giving us trouble in the second half when they went man-to-man and pressured us so that’s what we tried to do all week in practice. We just implemented that against our team and we just got better at it. They made a lot more threes tonight than we expected, too.” Both Lincoln and Danville tied at seven threes apiece.
 
 Lincoln needed a game like this tonight, an early test in the postseason. Whiteman agreed, “Playing in the Apollo, we don’t get this type of game and this is just good for us moving forward.”
 
 The final senior, Will Ewald, was perfectly versed following the emotional win and showed his respect for Danville. “Tonight’s win was great for us,” began Ewald. “We knew Danville was going to come out and attack us and we knew they weren’t ever going to give up. It’s just really nice to come out with this win. They never gave up at all. Hats off to them. We needed that competition. We’ve been playing all these Apollo schools and they are really not much to us. We’ve got to get some non-conference schools to give us a good game.”
 
 Survive and advance
 
 The records really don’t mean a thing in post season. It’s all about survive and advance. Danville gave the Railers a great game Friday night and they were far better than their record would indicate, having played much of the season without junior Tevin Smith. Smith, a heavily-touted Division I recruit, suffered a torn ACL and meniscus last spring during AAU ball. The Vikings overall played with a great game and showed class at the end while suffering the tough loss. Lincoln without a doubt rose to the occasion and played calm and cool the entire game. The Railers staff has showed these athletes what class is all about. Friday night Coach Neil Alexander and his staff were brilliant. Just another reason why the Railers are advancing.
 
 What’s next?
 
 Bring it on home, boys. Lincoln will play MacArthur on Wednesday, March 11, 2020 at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium as the Railers host the Sectional. Game time is 7 p.m. Be there.
 
 Scoring
 
 Lincoln 60
 
 Froebe 23
 Ewald 13
 Whiteman 9
 Singleton 9
 Hullinger 6
 
 Danville 56
 
 Miles 18
 Stroud 13
 Smith 10
 Crowder 5
 Hoskins 5
 Rhodes 5
 
 [Teena Lowery]