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First, it was the Lincoln Railers
winning yet another CS8 championship on Friday night and getting
their 20th victory in the process. It is an amazing feat that will
be talked about for the ages.
People began writing this team off once
the final horn sounded a year ago, and here they are league
champions again with a No. 3 seed in their sectional complex. Hats
off to a great group of players and a coaching staff that is second
to none!
Then, the Lincoln Christian College
Angels put an exclamation point on arguably their greatest season
ever. They won the Midwest Regional championship right here in
beautiful Lincoln -- in the Laughlin Center -- 74-69 over a solid
team from Grace.
You can not even fathom the fantastic
job husband-and-wife coaching team Amanda and Donnie Bowman have
done with these ladies. This is truly a special basketball team.
If that wasn't enough, the Lincoln
Christian College men's basketball team had to play the always
incredibly tough Maranatha squad for the regional title. Did I
mention that the game was played on Maranatha's home floor? Did I
also mention it was the last game for their classy coach, Jerry
Terrell?
In a game that the Preachers seemed to
be trailing in a lot, All-World guard Brian Dunaway made his move to
the rack. His drive was stalled, but he spotted sensational
sharpshooter Caleb Edson of Centralia and Country Bob fame and
tossed him the rock. Edson glanced at the clock and let fly a
3-pointer… It went in and all Preacherdom has gone into pandemonium!
Hats off to this outstanding squad and to their coaches.
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LCC's basketball teams are both
advancing to their respective national tournaments for the first
time in their history! The women will try to win the banner in
Joplin, Mo., while the men will seek the rings in Springfield, Mo.
We'll bring you more coverage later. Lincoln resident-players
factored in both teams' wins.
On top of all this, the Illinois
Fighting Illini won their eighth straight game and went 8-0 in
February as they won 76-66 over a very strong Northwestern squad.
Dee Brown led a group of Illini players in double figures and seems
to be heating up at the most opportune time possible. The
orange-clad Illini fans roared their approval and led Illinois to
another 13-1 home campaign.
Things stiffen up and the stakes rise
through the roof next, as the Illini must go on the road to Purdue's
house of doom and to the always tough arena in Columbus, Ohio.
Wisconsin must go to Indiana and to Michigan State, but all the
Spartans have left is that home match with Bucky Badger.
I think
conventional wisdom would say that if the Illini split (in fact if
you'd give me that now, I'd mail it in) that would be about as good
as you could expect. And if Michigan State holds serve at home, they
will win the title outright. Everyone eat cheese this week to bring
Bucky some luck!
[Jeff Mayfield]
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