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 Serving a school-imposed sanction, seniors Jordan Nelson and
Nathaniel Smith were absent from the evening's festivities (see
writer's note at end of story). The duo will also miss Saturday's
game with Taylorville. For most teams, going into battle without 60
percent of your scoring might be rather daunting. Friday night, the
Railers showed that, although they missed their teammates, this
squad is not just a two-man band.
Coach Neil Alexander, forced to adjust his starting lineup, as
well as his usual game substitution pattern, chose Jake Olson and
Christian Van Hook to round out the normal starting five. It didn't
take long for Van Hook to make an impact. After Jacksonville turned
the ball over after winning the opening tip, the junior got the
Railers on the board with an alley-oop dunk on a perfect lead from
Olson.
 Another Crimson turnover saw Lincoln lob over the defense on the
inbounds pass to Van Hook, who made the catch and the lay-in, and
before Jacksonville fans had settled into their seats, the Railers
got off to the good start they needed at 4-0. Junior Austin Kirby's
3-pointer from just beyond the top of the key pushed the run to
7-0, forcing Crimson coach J.R. Dugan to call a timeout. After Van
Hook's quick offensive start, the junior got into some early foul
trouble, picking up two fouls in a four-second span with just about
two minutes gone in the game. Van Hook was on the bench for the rest
of the first half and the Crimsons were able to get their first
three points of the game. It appeared Jacksonville was much more
comfortable with Van Hook off the floor.
Fortunately, the Crimsons were in the holiday spirit and
continued to give the ball away (20 turnovers for the game), and
the Railers took advantage. Spurred on by senior Brant Coyne's six-point run, Lincoln ran off a 14-0 run through the first quarter and
early into the second. The run included the first varsity basket for
freshman Max Cook. Cook, taking advantage of his playing time in the
absence of Nelson and Smith, scored six in the contest and led the
team in rebounds with five.
Offense was at a premium in the second quarter as the teams
combined for only 10 points. By halftime, Lincoln (8-0, 2-0) had
stretched their margin to 15 at 23-8. For a team forced to use
players who had not logged any varsity minutes and those usually on
the court with the decision well in hand, it was hard to tell any
moments when this team missed a beat.
"I thought we played hard tonight," Lincoln coach Alexander said.
"We
hustled and really got after it."
 The crowd at Roy S. Anderson
Gymnasium, watching the Railers win their 11th in a row at home, saw
some rarely seen game quintets, but effective nonetheless.
There was no drought of 3-pointers, thanks to the shooting of
Jordan Gesner and Kirby. Gesner, the evening's leading scorer with
14, scored Lincoln's first eight points of the third quarter,
including two baskets from long range, while Kirby hit twice from
beyond the arc in the game.
After Cook's basket at the end of the third, the Railers were up
33-14 and the game seemed in hand.
Jacksonville's only double-digit quarter of the night, the
fourth, saw the Crimsons (4-5, 2-1) score 10 of their 24 points, but
they were never able to get closer than 17 in the period. It wasn't
only the turnovers that bothered Jacksonville. When they were able
to get the shots off, they were contested, blocked, influenced and
flat-out missed.
Coach Dugan's troops finished at 27 percent (7 of 26) for the
game, while the Railers hit 43 percent (18 of 42). The Railers did
commit 14 turnovers of their own, but it would be understood. "We
made some silly passes and got pressured, but all in all, with the
experience we had out there, we really played well tonight,"
Alexander surmised.
Gesner's 14 points led the team. After an early four, Van Hook
scored six, as did Kirby and Cook. For his first varsity minutes,
Cook looked very comfortable, but "the
effect of the speed of the game was obvious," according to
Alexander. "He's gone from eighth
grade to a few sophomore games to this. It's much different."
[to top of second column] |
Coyne's six points were part of an overall strong performance
from the senior, with Alexander calling his play on Friday
"big." Olson added a 3, while Matt Hays gave the team good
minutes and scored on an inside basket. Andy Krusz played and did not score, but his willingness to take on
the physical play down low was important as Jacksonville played very
intimidated at times.
Another player getting his first minutes of the season was Will
Podbelsek. The sophomore did what was asked of him as well.
Would I have been surprised to know that Lincoln won by 19? Not
at all. Under these circumstances? Absolutely. However, it's another
reason why it's easy to contend Lincoln has one of the best coaching
staffs in the state. It is not the type of thing one can prepare
for, but when it came to be, everyone stepped up and the team reaped
the reward.
Lincoln's next contest will be tonight at Taylorville. It will be
the first road game in conference play and will have a different
starting time. The sophomore game is scheduled to start at 5, with
the varsity ready to go at 6:30. The sophomore squad will look to
sweep the weekend after an overtime win on Friday night, 54-50.
 ___ Lincoln (43) Gesner 5 0-0 14, Van Hook 3 0-0 6, Kirby 2 0-0 6, Cook 3 0-0 6,
Coyne 3 0-0 6, Olson 1 0-0 3, Hays 1 0-0 2, Krusz 0 0-0 0, Podbelsek
0 0-0 0. Team 18 0-0 43.
3-point field goals 7 (Gesner 4, Kirby 2,
Olson).
Jacksonville (24) Dugan 6, Peak 6, Lonergan 2, Pate 2, Kuo 2, Hance 2, Jones 1, Mills
1, Kording 1, Keene 1. TEAM 7 8-13 24. 3-point field goals 2 (Dugan
2). Score by quarters: End of first quarter -- LCHS 18, Jacksonville 3
Halftime -- LCHS 23, Jacksonville 8
End of third quarter -- LCHS 33, Jacksonville 14
Other conference scores:
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Southeast 60, Glenwood 33
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Lanphier 86, Taylorville 52
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SH-G 51, Rochester 32
Trivia answer: In yesterday's preview, I asked who the coaches were when Lincoln
won games No. 1, 100, 500, 1,000 and 1,500 in school history.
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1 -- William Handlin (1913-14)
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100 -- Roy S. Anderson (1926-27)
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500 -- Paul Johnson (1955-56)
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1,000 -- Loren Wallace (1983-84)
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1,500 -- Neil Alexander (2006-07)
Writer's note: The incident
involving the two players is a school matter. For that reason, there
are privacy issues, and out of respect to the players, their
families and the school, I will leave it as just that, a private
matter. If the players involved, their families or anyone
affiliated with the school wants to speak on the situation, that is
a decision not to be made by me. We are talking about high school
students: two good young men. It would be easy to sit here and tell
you what I've been told, what I've heard, true or not, for the sake
of the story. However, and I will never apologize for this, my first
thought is, how would I want this handled if it was my daughter? I
would hope some writer would understand things happen, mistakes are
made, but this too shall pass. [By JEFF BENJAMIN]
Jeff Benjamin's Railer basketball articles
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