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[DEC. 20, 2001]   NORMAL — The magnetic resonance imaging diagnostic machine revealed that Illinois State senior guard Shawn Jeppson suffered a moderate medial collateral ligament sprain in his right knee Tuesday night in the Redbirds’ 87-73 loss at No. 7 Illinois.

At the 8:52 mark in the first half, the Spring Valley native was fouled by Illinois’ Robert Archibald while driving for a layup. Jeppson sank the two foul shots but left the game afterward and never returned.

Jeppson is listed as day-to-day, and head coach Tom Richardson was relieved to hear the news after losing Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Tarise Bryson to a season-ending injury a month ago.

"We are obviously pleased that the injury wasn’t severe as it could have been," Richardson said. "We couldn’t afford another devastating injury to the team right now. We just have to get Shawn back as fast as we can."

Jeppson played only eight minutes in the game at Illinois, but scored five points, including a big 3-pointer that ended a 7-0 Illini run.

Ranked fourth on the team in scoring, Jeppson is averaging 10.2 points per game on the season. He has played in all 10 games and is averaging 25.7 minutes per contest.

[Todd Kober, ISU director of media relations]

By Jeff Mayfield

[DEC. 19, 2001]   It was really a tale of two halves. In the first half, a courageous group of Redbirds clawed, pecked and scratched their way into staying in the game. One stretch proved this point to a tee. Down 22-17 with 9:02 left, ISU fought hard on a 7-3 run and closed the gap to 25-24 with 6:19 to play.

[Photo by Tom Seggelke]

Lincoln high school product Gregg Alexander had nine points in the stanza to help ISU stay close. With Lincoln’s Brian Cook and Robert Archibald mired in foul trouble, the Illini led only 37-32 at the break. Only Frank Williams had more points than Alexander at intermission. In the first half the play was so rugged that surprisingly it seemed to favor the Redbirds.

The second half, however, was a horse of a different color. My guess is that coach Self suggested to the fellas that it might be a good idea to pass the ball inside in the second half. All the stories you’re going to read today are going to talk about that dominance.

And while there is no doubt that Illinois exploited that advantage in the second half, there’s a lot more to it than just that. Illinois started pushing the ball more and playing a much faster brand of basketball. I mean they began to dictate the tempo and tried to get out of the bump-and-grind game that it was for the first 20 minutes. And as well as Illinois’ big men run the floor, that is an advantage that they can exploit virtually every game.

Cook came alive in the last 20 minutes, tossing in eight, but Damir Krupalija had 11 and didn’t even play the last eight minutes of the game. Frank Williams had one of his best games of the year despite the lingering effects of having the flu, and he finished with 29 points. That’s just one point shy of his career high.

[to top of second column in this article]

The Lincoln matchup between Cook and Alexander failed to materialize. Although Cook won one battle and ultimately the war, Alexander took high scoring honors for the game. With 9:26 left in the contest Cook drove to the basket one-on-one against Alexander. It reminded me of some drills we used to run in the Railer camp. Cook went up over Alexander, the shot went in and Gregg was called for the block. Alexander also pulled down five rebounds in the game. Cook had six boards, two blocks and 10 points in only 23 minutes of action.

[Photo by Tom Seggelke]

In summation, we thought the Redbirds acquitted themselves pretty well last night and probably gave the Illini more than they bargained for. The first half was the best half of basketball that we’ve seen the Redbirds play this season. If they continue to play that hard, that intense and that focused, they will win a lot of games. The Illini on the other hand still have some work to do to get ready for the bludgeonfest that Big Ten basketball has become. We think that they will rise to the occasion Saturday and give ol’ Mizzou a much better game than most experts are predicting.

Stay tuned in the days ahead for more player and fan reactions to last night’s battle and the upcoming Missouri spectacle as well.

[Jeff Mayfield]

Game reports online from Redbirds and Fighting Illini

From ISU

• Illlinois' Second-Half Spark Proves Too Much for Redbirds

• Illini Down Illinois St., 87-73

Illini Sugar Bowl ticket update

[DEC. 18, 2001]   CHAMPAIGN — The University of Illinois has sold its entire allotment of 15,000 tickets for the Jan. 1 Nokia Sugar Bowl against SEC-champion Louisiana State University.

Due to the high demand for Nokia Sugar Bowl tickets, only FISF/I Fund donors and football season ticket holders are presently being considered for ticket allocation. The number of ticket requests exceeded the number of tickets available, activating the ticket allocation priority policy stated on each ticket form. Refunds will be issued to all ticket orders the UI is not able to accommodate. Non-season ticket holders will not be allocated tickets for the Nokia Sugar Bowl.

"The response by Fighting Illini fans for the Nokia Sugar Bowl has been overwhelming, as we have processed more than 26,000 ticket orders since the official announcement on Dec. 4. In this process, we’ve been very careful to prioritize tickets to our loyal Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund members and season ticket holders who have been with us for a number of years," UI Director of Athletics Ron Guenther said. "We also were able to fill UI student season ticket holder requests for tickets. We are excited to have a large and enthusiastic Illinois contingent heading to New Orleans to cheer on the Illini in our first-ever BCS appearance."

[to top of second column in this article]

The University of Illinois by contract was allocated 15,000 tickets for the Nokia Sugar Bowl to be played at the Louisiana Superdome on Jan. 1.

Big Ten Champion Illinois is 10-1 on the season and ranked No. 7 in the nation heading into the contest with LSU.

The following guidelines are being used to allocate Nokia Sugar Bowl tickets:

1.  Fighting Illini Scholarship Fund / I Fund members by club level.

2.  Student, faculty and staff, and general public football season ticket holders who are not FISF/I Fund members, by date the order was received.

[Kent Brown, ISU assistant athletics director/
sports information director]

Pre-game notes: ISU vs. Illini

[DEC. 18, 2001]   The Illini perspective...

[Click here to view background information (in Adobe Acrobat)]

[Click here for Monday's ISU background information
(in Adobe Acrobat)]

[Click here to download Adobe Acrobat reader]

Area game results

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

Boys

At Kankakee

Lincoln                         13  32  49  74
Kankakee                    12  31  41  62

Farmer 0-4-4, Komnick 3-0-7, Gallagher 1-0-2, Schonauer 0-2-2, Schroder 7-3-20,  Welch 1-0-2, Werner 1-0-2, Young 15-5-35.

Totals 28-14-74

At Hartsburg

Delavan                        15  37  48  69
Hartsburg-Emden         10  27  42  56

Ke. Leesman 1-5-7, Fletcher 3-2-10, Wrage 6-1-13, Anderson 1-6-8, Gleason 6-0-14, Ko. Leesman 2-0-4.

Totals 19-14-56

[to top of second column in this article]

Girls

At Lincoln

Triad                            13  23  33  47
Lincoln                         13  23  28  36

Dawson 4-2-10, Robbins 2-0-4, Ingram 3-0-8,  Froschauer 4-0-8,  Moore 1-2-4,  Verderber 1-0-2.

Totals 15-4-36

Pre-game notes: ISU vs. Illini

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

[Click here to view background information (in Adobe Acrobat)]

[Click here to download Adobe Acrobat reader]

Illinois vs. Western Illinois

[DEC. 17, 2001]   

[Click here for the report from the Fighting Illini website:
"No. 10 Illinois Breezes Past Western Illinois, 98-62"]

Illinois vs. Arkansas

[DEC. 17, 2001]   Final score:  Illinois 94, Arkansas 91.

[Click here for pictures from the game played on Dec. 8]

Chattanooga defeats Illinois State 70-59

[DEC. 17, 2001]   CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Baboucarr Bojang scored a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers, but the rest of the Redbird offense struggled as Chattanooga defeated Illinois State 70-59 in non-conference men’s basketball action on Saturday in Chattanooga, Tenn.

A 16-6 run by the Mocs (3-5) late in the first half and a 10-4 run to start the second half proved to be too much for the ’Birds (4-5), who managed only 26 points in the first half on 12-of-30 shooting.

"We just dug ourselves into a hole again on the road," said Illinois State head coach Tom Richardson. "We missed a lot of wide-open shots, and we let Toot Young get away from us in the first half. We need our guys to play more consistently on the road."

Bojang scored 16 of his 26 points in the first half, shooting 7-for-8 from the field and hitting two free throws. He also led Illinois State in rebounding, with eight. Shawn Jeppson was the only other Redbird to finish in double figures in scoring, with 10 points. Shedrick Ford contributed nine points and five rebounds.

[to top of second column in this article]

Chattanooga led by 10 at the half, 36-26, with Young chipping in half of the Mocs’ points with 18.

Young finished the game as Chattanooga’s leading scorer, with 22 points. The Mocs had three other players in double figures, with 10 points apiece. Chattanooga shot 24-for-50 from the field for 48 percent and out-rebounded Illinois State 39-35. Dusty Pullian was the game’s leader on the boards, with 12.

Illinois State travels to Champaign on Tuesday, Dec. 18, to face the No. 8 University of Illinois Fighting Illini at 7 p.m.

[Rob Huizenga, ISU athletics media relations]

Area game results

[DEC. 15, 2001]   

Boys

At Bloomington

Olympia                       8  16  24    34
Central Catholic           8  19  24    32

Kendrick 2-0-5; Olson 2-1-5; Elliott 1-2-4; Sherman 0-4-4; Wright 0-2-2; Dillenburg 3-0-7; Criswell 1-4-6; Kieser 0-0-0; Slager 0-1-1; Miller 0-0-0.

Totals 9-14-34

At Lincoln

Lincoln                       14  25  43    58
Springfield                    9  14  26    45

Farmer 2-7-13; Komnick 3-0-8; Gallagher 0-0-0; Peters 0-0-0; Schonauer 0-4-4; Bast 0-0-0; Schrader 3-4-10; Welch 1-0-2; Werner 1-0-2; Young 9-1-19; Heidbreder 0-0-0.

Totals 19-16-58

At Lewistown

Illini Central                  11  25  34    46
Lewistown                    10  16  31    48

Miller 8-1-17; Grimsley 1-5-7; Clark 2-0-4; Giesler 5-0-14; Scott 0-0-0; Williams 2-0-4.

Totals 18-6-46

Lincoln Christian College vs. Westminster College

[DEC. 15, 2001]  LCC men's and women's basketball teams played Westminster at Fulton, Mo.

Men

LCC                             31  36    67
Westminster                  35  35    70

Clark 7-5-21; Raymer 0-0-0; Holderby 3-0-7; Below0-0-0; Turney 3-0-9; Broadfuehrer 0-0-0; Grooms 2-2-6; Searby 11-1-24.

Totals 26-8-67

[to top of second column in this article]

Women

LCC                             20  28    78
Westminster                  33  35    68

Robbins 4-4-14; Urton 0-1-1; Szostek 0-0-0; Wright 7-2-17; Wertin 1-1-3; O'Malley 0-0-0; Jewell 4-1-9; Flaherty 0-1-1; Davis 1-0-3.

Totals 17-11-48

Lincoln College vs. Forest Park

[DEC. 15, 2001]  LC women's basketball team played Forest Park at Forest Park.

Women

LC                               47  40    87
Forest Park                  33  32    65

Lamb 3-0-6; Bausley 1-0-2; McLaughlin 4-0-8; Beebe 5-6-18; Sims 2-3-7; Scott 3-0-6; Melker 1-0-2; Dullard 4-2-10; Thomas 2-0-4; Grahm 3-1-7; Story 2-0-4; Bossingham 3-0-7; Calhoun 1-0-2; Rossio 0-0-0; Harper 1-2-4.

Totals 35-14-87

Area game result

[DEC. 14, 2001]   

Girls

Olympia              12 24 35 48

Central Catholic  16 31 47 61

Floyd 4-0-8, Prager 1-3-5, Gaither 5-3-14, Canopy 4-0-8, Goebel 4-1-9, Short 2-0-4

Lincoln College vs. Carl Sandburg

[DEC. 14, 2001]   

Men

Lincoln College     33 28 – 61

Carl Sandberg       22 36 – 58

Roberson 4-0-10, Fowler 0-2-2, Turner 4-7-15, Sams 4-0-9, Major 7-3-17, Hollyfield 3-2-8

By Jeff Mayfield

[DEC. 20, 2001]   

This week’s athlete of the week was a difficult choice.

I could have gone with Nathan Neal. In Zion Lutheran School’s thrilling 46-41 victory over Springfield-Our Savior’s Lutheran School (seventh- and eighth-grade boys basketball), Neal poured in a career-high 15 points that included three 3-pointers from way downtown — bang!

But then some of the stats people out at Lutheran informed me that Kraig Sullivan threw in 16 points! So, I considered making them my "co-athletes of the week"!

But then, some other fan pointed to the line that Chas Johnson turned in. He added five points, nine rebounds, two assists, five steals and two blocked shots — a fairly nice evening for any junior high player. So, then I contemplated making the three amigos my "tri-athletes of the week."

Payne pointed out to me that he really enjoyed the fifth- and sixth-grade players and game as well, and he suggested, as only a baby could, that the nod should go to Peter Ayars. By then, I was completely rattled because I don’t know if I’ve ever even heard about that many players sharing an award of this magnitude. But Payne hit me with his bottle and said why not? Why not the whole team, Dada?

So, this week’s athlete(s) of the week (maybe we should consider adding a team of the week) is the entire group of players from Zion Lutheran School along with coaches Daron Whittaker, Brad Neal and Steve Schumacher.

Your sportsmanship was even better than your games, and your games were excellent. Keep up the good work, fellas, and keep shining your light!

Winter baseball?

Local fans are buzzing about the recent signings and deals that both the Cubs and Cards have made in the past few days. Here’s the rub on some of the number crunching:

The Cubs signed Moises Alou. Alou will, incredibly, be joining his sixth team. Last year, in a Houston Astros uniform, he batted .331 with 27 home runs, 108 RBIs, and he struck out 57 times. He is a career .306 hitter with 202 HRs and 834 RBIs. And despite what Texas fan Bobby Straface says about him, his .991 fielding percentage shows that he’s a pretty decent defensive player as well.

[to top of second column in this article]

The Cardinals have added closer Jason Isringhausen. Jason went 4-3 last year for the Oakland A’s. He had a 2.65 ERA and delivered 34 saves in 43 chances. Amazingly, he did not hit a batter all season. He owns a lifetime 28-29 record with a 4.13 ERA and 76 saves.

Remember that he was converted into a closer after what was feared as a career-ending surgery. His comeback has been a pretty neat story.

Another exciting thing about him is that he is a .200 hitter, which is not bad for a pitcher and means that manager Tony LaRussa will not always have to use the double-switch when he goes to the bullpen! Hopefully, this will allow the Cardinals to stop going with the closer-by-committee plan and use other pitchers in middle relief and setup roles that are better suited for them.

St. Louis also got what their fans hope is the coup of all signings, the addition of first baseman Tino Martinez. Tino has been a part of all those Yankee world championships. Hopefully he’s hungry for some rings on his other hand. Tino continued his production by hitting .280 this past season. He belted 34 HRs and had 113 RBIs with 89 runs scored.

I scouted him personally with local scout Lynn Laughlin and former LCC great Curt Swan. They thought we should add him sooner than the Redbirds did!

Tino is a lifetime .274 hitter with 263 HRs and 1,002 RBIs. He is also a stellar defensive player who has won several awards and been on numerous All-Star teams. In fact, last season, with over 1,000 chances, he made only five errors, for a .996 fielding percentage. That was the fewest errors he had made since he became a starter, going back to his days with the Seattle Mariners.

The best thing about Tino is his clubhouse manner. He is a crafty, wily veteran who will really be a good influence on the younger players. He just may be the missing piece that could launch St. Louis to another championship!

[Jeff Mayfield]

Tuesday morning morsels

By Jeff Mayfield

[DEC. 18, 2001]   Tonight’s game between Illinois and Illinois State pits two former Railers going toe to toe, Brian Cook versus Gregg Alexander. While I’m not saying that this is the first time it has ever happened, if some of you loyal readers know of other past matchups, please e-mail them to us at ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com. It may provide some fodder for a great feature or at least provide us with some great memories.

Game time is 7 p.m., and it marks the first time in 19 years that these teams have played each other. We believe that ISU will have to shoot a high percentage and limit their turnovers to offset the Illini’s strength and height advantage in this contest. We’re hoping for an exciting contest, and the word on the street is that a few hundred Lincolnites have tickets for this battle. We’re torn on this one... so we just say good luck to everybody!

Want on the Bears bandwagon yet? They have been simply amazing. And how they could even think of letting a 10-3 coach go is beyond me. Back in my day if you won games, you could coach indefinitely. Nowadays, it’s a week-to-week proposition! Home-field advantage, in my mind, will be the determining factor as to how far Chicago goes in the playoffs! And speaking of the NFL... in this very column last week, we suggested that the Lions would break through soon. How about Sunday?

We also suggested that this past weekend the Railers would learn a lot about themselves... and they did. They learned what intensity, hard work and teamwork can do for you when you start putting things together. They smoked Springfield, as SHS was content to chuck up shots from all over the place. Kankakee displayed great quickness, but Lincoln probably played their best game of the season against them. LCHS patiently worked the ball, feeding Erik Young in the post and getting balanced scoring from the rest of the troops in both contests.

[to top of second column in this article]

Lanphier and Southeast still loom as the teams to beat in the CS8, but don’t be surprised if the Railers pull off some upsets along the way.

In the upcoming holiday tourney it looks like Lincoln got a pretty tough draw, at least by looking at the state’s power rankings. If the Railers can get through the first two rounds that could set up a rematch with a very good Thornwood team. Obviously, they are without Eddy Curry, who is now in the pros. If you recall, Lincoln had some chances to upend them last year. We have a funny feeling that the Railers are really going to fare well in this year’s tournament...

Other than that, it’s pretty quiet in the sports world today. I do want to wish my favorite ballplayer, Payne Montgomery, congratulations on his first birthday. In my mind, YOU’ll always be a CHAMP, big guy!

[Jeff Mayfield]

By Jeff Mayfield

[DEC. 15, 2001]   

Our athlete of the week has to be Pete Barmes, who in a recent LJHS wrestling meet pinned all four of his opponents in one meet, in one day! Nice going, Pete! Check him and his teammates out versus Tremont at home on Monday night. The meet will actually be at Washington-Monroe School.

If Baboucarr Bojang is not the best name in college basketball this year, I don’t know who is?! Boo not only has a great name, he’s been helping Gregg Alexander and the young Redbirds try to overcome the loss of MVC Player of the Year Tarise Bryson.

The Birds tangle with the mighty Tennessee-Chattanooga Moccasins Saturday at 1:05. The Mocs were the team that ousted one of Lon Kruger’s good Illini teams a few years back during one of those true March Madness rounds.

The hoopin’ Illini continue their quest to play every school in Illinois this season by hookin’ up Sunday with a 3:05 home game versus Western Illinois. WIU features former Railer great Geoff Alexander as one of its coaches. That is followed by a home showdown with ISU on Tuesday night at 7. That game will feature two former Railers, Illinois’ Brian Cook and ISU’s Gregg Alexander. This could be an interesting matchup, but how much more interesting could it have been if Tarise Bryson had not sustained a season-ending injury.

Speaking of the Illini, last Saturday’s game against Arkansas drew a 1.77 TV rating. That would equate to the game being on in 1.5 million homes. That’s a lot of homes! The rating was the third-highest in regular-season college ESPN basketball history! Quite amazing when you consider that it was a noon EST starting time.

The Lincoln Railers will find out a lot about themselves this weekend as they battle Springfield High at home and a very quick Kankakee team on the road.

While I’m mentioning Kankakee, does anyone in the IHSA play as tough a schedule as LCHS? What happened to scheduling cupcakes all season long? I know the crew that visits the message boards thinks that early-season tourneys are skewed to Lincoln’s advantage (because some teams are coming right out of the football playoffs, etc., etc.), but you still have to play the games! No teams will be more prepared than Lincoln’s, and if the Railers execute, they win. I am only drawing on experience from 1975 to the present. So to those of you who keep bringing that up, you’re wrong… dead wrong!

Someone recently asked me why we don’t frequent the message boards. Good question, easy answer. Unless they’ve changed recently, there’s usually nothing of value on them. I don’t believe I’ve read anything there by an athletic director, coach or any insider who goes to practice every day or who helps to scout opponents for any sport. So, when everything centers around who’s getting how much playing time or philosophies and strategies that are not even fully known by the board posters, it’s hard to take anything that is written there very seriously. Unless someone can give me even an iota of a good reason to glean something from there, I think we’ll pass. But, thanks for asking.

[to top of second column in this article]

Congratulations

…to Chester-East Lincoln coach Doug Rader and his lady hoopsters, who just finished another great season culminating in a trip to the IESA state playoffs and another Elite Eight finish. Wins seem to follow this coach around!

I’m sure Lincoln’s Tony Semple would love to see his Detroit Lions in the win column, especially when they’ve come so close the last few weeks. Here’s hoping it happens soon, when it will help one of our local teams the most. I think the Bears will make the playoffs, but as to how far they will go, it’s anybody’s guess. The Rams are likely the best team in all of football, and until someone beats them when it counts, we’re sticking with our story. The Colts are out, period! I don’t think their defense ever picked it up like the Ram’s defense did. The next two to three weeks should be interesting, as everyone will be jockeying for position.

We are a small news agency with a big heart. We try to cover as many events as we can and bring you behind-the-scenes, breaking coverage to the best of our ability. We do not have the staff to cover every high school and junior high game of every sport for every school in the county. If we could, we would. That is why we would classify our coverage as "feature coverage." As local LDN readers inform us of upcoming games or we find out about them through our own research, we cover them in some form of a feature format. Other news agencies provide us with some information about certain games, and we try to include as much of that as is possible. The one sure way to make sure that your game or event is covered is to call the LDN with as much info as you can. We will continue to make, as we have from our inception, every effort to give you some type of coverage. Also, accuracy is one of our utmost concerns. If you can help us by making sure that names are spelled correctly and that statistics are accurate, that not only helps us, it helps you.

We want to inform our community about all the great things that you are doing, and we want to do the best job we can for you, our loyal readers! Most, not all, of the time we spend comes out of our own free time. Therefore, we cover things that we enjoy covering or were already going to be participating in before any assignments are made.

So, if you would like for your sport to receive consistent, regular coverage, hook us up with a coach, a concerned adult or an athlete who just happens to like to write, and if you’ll provide the info, we’ll try our best to provide you with some space. If you spot a mistake in our stuff, please let us know about it. We want to improve for you!

Thanks to all of you for two great years of wonderful support. It is truly a pleasure bringing you local junior high, high school, college and professional sports coverage!

Please stay tuned to your local LDN dial, as over the next few weeks lots of exciting sports action is coming your way. You won’t want to miss a single day! And remember, always be a good sport. They may not remember if you won or lost, but they will always remember how you treated them!

[Jeff Mayfield]

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