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 It was a game
the Railers had hoped to get off to an early start. However, the
Generals scored the first four points of the contest. An inside
basket from Brant Coyne put the Railers on the board for the first
time, and a 3 from Jordan Nelson gave Lincoln their first lead of
the night.
After a
MacArthur basket, Nathaniel Smith tied the game at seven. The
junior's basket started a 24-6 run that allowed the Railers to
extend to a 29-13 advantage midway through the second quarter.
Unfortunately,
the rhythm of the game took a hit when MacArthur's Bryce Taylor and
Lincoln's Ben Brackney got tangled up in the lane and both players
were whistled for a technical foul. It was one of four technicals
whistled against MacArthur.
As usual, Brackney enjoyed seeing a Decatur school on the other side of the
court. For the third game in a row with Lincoln playing a game
against a Decatur school, Brackney scored over 20, setting a new
career high with 26 points. The senior seemed to pick up some energy
after the technical was called, finishing with 7-of-12 shooting,
including three from long range. Brackney also hit nine of 12
from the free-throw line.
The Railers
have improved their free-throw shooting over the past two games,
with this one seeing the team finish 18 of 23 from the line.
Early on, the
Railers had trouble on the rebounding edge. Coach Neil Alexander
said, "We were allowing too much dribble drive, and that allowed them
to take away our rebounding angles. It's no secret our defense is
not one that allows us to rebound well, but that much dribble drive
can hurt us."
In every game
this season, the Railers have been outrebounded, including this one
at 32-22. Brackney led the team in rebounds as well with eight.
The technicals
certainly hurt MacArthur more than Lincoln, as Decatur coach Felipe Phillips
sat Taylor for the remainder of the first half. Taylor
finished with 17 points, but only one in the first half. Lincoln
enjoyed a 32-17 lead at the half. The Railers used 48 percent first-half shooting, including 5 of 15 from
3-point range, to stretch
to the 15-point lead.
The second half
was more of the same as Lincoln was able to enjoy their largest lead
of the night at 54-34. However, as has been the case earlier this
season, Lincoln started playing their way back to MacArthur. The
Generals used a 13-5 run to cut the lead back to 12 at 59-47.
However, the
good Railer free-throw shooting proved to put the Railers in the
winner's bracket for Tuesday's contest against Belleville East.
Along with
Brackney's 26 points, Nelson added 19 points, with Smith the other Railer in double figures with 10. Coyne added
six, with Reuben Bowlby scoring four and Austin Kirby with two.
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The Railers
finished at 48 percent (21-44) for the game, while holding MacArthur
to 45 percent. The Railer defense was able to force 20 turnovers
while only committing 13 of their own. Once again, Lincoln (8-1)
took more 3s (25) than twos (19)
The Railers
shot 12 of 19 from inside the arc for the night.
Again, the
Railers will be back in action on Tuesday at 2:30 against Belleville
East. As always, you can read about the contest here at
www.lincolndailynews.com.
___
LINCOLN (67)
Brackney 7-12
9-12 26, Nelson 6-14 3-4 19, Smith 4-5 2-2 10, Coyne 1-4 4-5 6,
Bowlby 2-2 0-0 4, Kirby 1-2 0-0 2, Cosby 0-1 0-0 0, Turner 0-4 0-0
0. Team 21-44 18-23 67.
3-point field goals 7-25 (Nelson 4-11, Brackney 3-6, Turner 0-3, Coyne 0-2, Smith 0-1, Kirby 0-1, Cosby
0-1).
Rebounds 22 (Brackney 8), assists 15 (Nelson 5), steals 11
(Smith 3), turnovers 13.
MacArthur (54)
Kinnison 23,
Taylor 17, J. Lee 6, Jones 4, K. Lee 2, F. Lee 2. Team 21-47.
3-point field goals 3-11, free throws 9-17.
Rebounds 32, assists 11,
steals 7, turnovers 20.
Lincoln
22-10-16-19
MacArthur
11-6-13-24
Notes:
-
Nelson
extends his streak to 35 games in a row with a 3-pointer.
-
Brackney and
Nelson have now gone for double figures in consecutive games (Brackney
13, Nelson 12).
[Special report by JEFF BENJAMIN]
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