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 Well, on this night, it was Class 3A No. 9 Lincoln that had just a
little more, coming away with a 70-61 win over the 12th-rated
Spartans, sweeping the regular-season matchups and pulling even for
the lead in the conference. Lincoln improved to 20-3, their 29th 20-win season in school history, including 15 of the last 17 years, and
9-2 in the conference, all even with Southeast.
After allowing the first basket of the night, the first quarter was
all inside from senior Nathaniel Smith and outside from classmate
Jordan Nelson. The duo scored all the points in an early 7-0 run to
put the Railers up by five. Nelson's 3 gave Lincoln an early
3-2, and believe it or not, the Railers would never trail the rest
of the night.
With the Spartans concentrating on the shooting of Nelson, Smith
took advantage of open baselines and lanes for two baskets from up
close. The Spartans were able to draw even at seven, but Nelson
struck again twice from long range, while Smith again penetrated the
Southeast defense for an easy two, giving Lincoln the lead at 15-9.
A 3 from Southeast's Herman Senor cut the lead in half at the
end of the first quarter, 15-12.
With Nelson (9) and Smith (6) scoring all the Railer points in the
first eight minutes, the packed house at Roy S. Anderson knew
Lincoln would need a little something from the other Railers to be
able to come away with the victory. Good team defense, crisp
passing and excellent offensive execution helped the Railers go on
an 8-2 at the start of the quarter.
Nelson started the quarter by scoring on a lay-in, thanks to a
nice inbounds pass from Austin Kirby on the opening possession. Up
18-14, Christian Van Hook was fouled as he went up for a lob and
made one of his two free throws. The junior scored the next basket
on an inbounds lob from Nelson. Another basket from Smith pushed the
Lincoln lead to 23-14.
Over the past few games, freshman Max Cook has been getting a few
minutes here and there, all important as the season starts winding
down. Cook contributed in this game as well, hitting for his first 3 of the
season, followed by two more free throws from Van Hook. His second
gave Lincoln their first double-digit lead of the evening at 28-18.
The teams played rather even for the rest of the quarter, with
Lincoln heading into the break up eight, 32-24.
Now, if I would have told you this earlier, you might not have
thought the Railers had a chance at being close, let alone be in the
lead. Southeast missed only three of their 13 shots in the half,
while the Railers hit on 50 percent (11 of 22).
In the game earlier this month, the Railers led by 16. By the time
half the third quarter was over, so was half the Lincoln lead.
Southeast (14-6, 9-2) is too good a basketball team to not make a
run. The key to winning is too withstand that run without watching
the Spartans go flying by and leaving you in their wake. Chalk one
up for the Railers, as not only did they hold their own in the
opening volleys of the half, they imposed their will to stretch out
their lead to the largest of the night.
Nelson started the half with a fast-break 3-pointer. For most
folks, you would think "take it to the basket" on such a fast-break
opportunity. For Nelson, the school's all-time 3-point shooter...
well, for him, it's as good as a layup. After a pair of Jordan Gesner free throws put Lincoln up 37-29, another senior came up big.
"I thought the turning point of the game was when Brant (Coyne) hit
those two 3s," Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said. Coyne's two 3s
from just to the left of the top of the key put Lincoln up 43-31. A
lay-in and baseline jam from Van Hook had Railer Nation on their
feet, while Southeast was looking for answers.
Lincoln was getting scoring from all over and from different
faces, a team performance that had you feeling pretty confident the
Railers would come away with the win. However, it didn't take long
for Southeast to remind everyone that they weren't going to just
hand over the lead for the conference.
Nelson's basket put the Railers up 49-34, but Southeast took some
momentum into the fourth after a Lincoln turnover and Senor 3 as
the quarter ended gave the Spartans hope, bringing the Lincoln lead
down to 10 at 49-39. Another five in a row to start the quarter got
Southeast back within striking distance at 49-44.
Where Southeast was gaining ground was getting the ball inside,
scoring and getting fouled for conventional three-point plays.
After a lot of effort, Southeast was able to finally get the game to
a one-possession contest at 53-50.
The Railers had one final run, and it proved to be the
difference. Led by four from Smith and a steal and lay-in from
Nelson at the 3:31 mark, the Railers went back up by nine at 59-50. From there, it was back-and-forth scoring from both teams, with the
Railers doing something they've had some issues with lately: hitting
on big free throws. Going 19 of 23 on the night included hitting 13
of 14 in the second half. This was one of those games that coach
Alexander alludes to where free throws can be a difference.
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As much as the Spartans tried, this night belonged to the
Railers, coming away with a nine-point victory. As well as
Southeast shot in the first half, the Railers answered in kind
in the second, going 11 of 15 (73 percent) from the field and
did not miss on three shots from beyond the arc. Again, another
night of shooting well, 22 of 37 (60 percent) for the game,
shows just how good this team can be.
Good shooting can cure a lot of ills.
An odd week of practice
may have contributed to Southeast's fourth-quarter surge.
"We
had a bad week of practice," Alexander said. With the sophomores
at tournament games on three nights this week, "we only had nine
guys," he said. "It's hard to do a lot with nine guys
-- we didn't do a lot
of conditioning -- and I think that showed up in the fourth
quarter."
The sophomores were also victorious Friday night,
55-43.
The Railers were led by Nelson's 29 and four assists and Smith's
17 points and three steals. Joining in on the double-digit
parade was Van Hook with 11 points and four blocked shots, most
getting the crowd out of their seats. His defense was a key part
of the Railer win.
Coyne's two big 3s were part of his eight points, and he led
the team with four boards. Cook's 3 was his only scoring,
while Gesner added two free throws.
The Railers can now enjoy a Saturday off before beginning the
homestretch of the regular season. Lincoln is back in action
Friday night at home, welcoming in Springfield Lanphier, the
only conference team the Railers have not yet played. Going into
Saturday's schedule, the Lions stand third in the conference. Other conference scores from Friday:
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Lanphier 60, Rochester 50
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SHG 67, Glenwood 53
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Springfield 58, Taylorville 15
The conference standings through Friday: Lincoln 9-2, Southeast
9-2, Lanphier 7-3, SHG 7-4, Jacksonville 6-4, Springfield 5-5,
Glenwood 4-7, Rochester 1-10, Taylorville 0-11.
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LINCOLN (70)
Nelson 9-11 7-8 29, Smith 6-11 5-6 17, Van Hook 4-5 3-4 11,
Coyne 2-3 2-2 8, Cook 1-1 0-0 3, Gesner 0-4 2-3 2, Kirby 0-2 0-0
0, Olson 0-0 0-0 0. Team 22-37 19-23 70.
3-point field goals
7-13 (Nelson 4-6, Coyne 2-2, Cook 1-1, Smith 0-1, Kirby 0-1, Gesner 0-2).
Rebounds 14 (Coyne 4), assists 13 (Nelson 4),
steals 12 (Smith, Kirby 3), turnovers 10.
Southeast (61)
Jacobby Anderson 16, Senor 13, Gardner 10, Jagger Anderson 8,
Smith 7, Davis 3, Rye 2, Fleming 2. Team 21-46 14-18 61.
3-point
field goals 5-18 (Gardner 2, Senor 2, Jagger Anderson).
Rebounds
27, assists 10, steals 6, turnovers 17.
Score by quarters:
End of first quarter -- LCHS 15, Southeast 12
Halftime -- LCHS 32, Southeast 24
End of third quarter -- LCHS 49, Southeast 39
Other notes:
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Nelson has tied Dan Duff for third in games played at 117,
while Smith is now even with Jason Jones and Jerry Klockenga at
15th with 91 games.
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The Railers are still perfect (19-0) when leading after three
quarters.
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Lincoln ended January going 8-2 in the month.
[by JEFF BENJAMIN]
Jeff Benjamin's Railer basketball articles
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