Railers escape the Wildcats 44-43

[January 25, 2023] Lincoln played at Normal West Tuesday night and it was the Railers holding on to win 44-43 in the final seconds of the game.

Lincoln was ahead of Normal West 11-9 in the first quarter. Aidan Gowin and Payton Cook each had 3s in the first quarter and Jake Bivin and Camden Nelson also added baskets.

The Railers fell behind 22-20 at the half.

The two teams had a back-and-forth third quarter, with Lincoln still trailing 37-35 when the quarter ended. This time it was Drew Hayes and Gowin with the 3s in the quarter and Trey Schilling and Bivin adding baskets.
 

The fourth quarter would prove to be a barnburner. A three by Gowin put the Railers on top 38-37. Tyler Sasse’s jumper then gave the Railers a 40-37 lead. The Wildcats would come back to tie the game 40-40 with 3:46 remaining. Leave it to Sasse to bank in another one for the 42-40 lead with two and a half minutes left. Another layup and ‘and one’ by the Wildcats would give them the 43-42 lead with 1:36 left to play. Hayes would score what would eventually be the winning basket when he was able to get to the hoop with three Wildcats surrounding him. He had to fight to capture his own rebound from a miss, but was able to go up strong for the two points anyway. The remainder of the game was steals, turnovers and timeouts and Lincoln escaped Normal West with a 44-43 win.

Lincoln improved to 17-4 on the season.

The JV team also won a close contest with Normal West, defeating the Wildcats 45-44.

Gabe Smith led the Railers with 15 points. Drew Hayes added 14 points.

The Railers will host Mattoon Friday night. The JV game will tip-off at 6 p.m. The Varsity will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 44
Gowin 13
Sasse 7
Bivin 7
Hayes 7
Nelson 4
Cook 4
Schilling 2

Normal West 43
Camp 19
Smith 13
Sluder 6
Robinson 3
Moore 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 45
Smith 15
Hayes 14
Sanders 6
Miller 5
Stevens 3
Horn 2

Normal West 44
Hoss 12
Olsen 9
Zaleski 7
Austin 6
Grant 4
Givens 3
Pattelli 3

[Teena Lowery]