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 Hopp and Fry combined for 31 of Lincoln’s 38 points, but only other
Railer hit the scorebook and that is not going to lead to many wins
this season. “We need to work on getting our scoring more balanced,”
Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said after the game. “We have guys that
can do it, but we have to execute.” Jacksonville, however, did
execute their game plan in getting the ball down low and using their
size over the Railers. The Crimson scored 26 of their points in the
paint and, early on, they got easy scores thanks to defensive
breakdowns in the Lincoln defense.
Although Lincoln did not lead for as much of the game as they did in
their loss to Mahomet-Seymour last week, at the end of the game, it
felt like this one got away as well. “We won every statistic they
keep,” Coach Alexander lamented, “except on the scoreboard.” Lincoln
had more threes, fewer turnovers, and lost the rebounding battle by
one (19-18). “If we only have one less rebound, I’ll take that as a
win,” Alexander said.
Back to finding more balance from the Lincoln offense, Hopp, Fry,
and Isaiah Bowers combined for 34 of the 38 shots the Railers took
on the day. The day got off to a good start at the Prairie Capital
Convention Center when Bowers hit a three-pointer to give Lincoln an
early lead. After a Jacksonville score, Hopp drained a jumper from
just inside the top of the key to push the lead to 5-2. When the
Crimsons’ Brady Hays hit a three and Riley Dugan was left alone on
the low block to score an easy lay-in, Lincoln was down 7-5 and
would not enjoy the lead for the rest of the game.
Despite the size of Jacksonville (4-0), for much of the game, the
quickness and athletic ability of Hopp gave the Crimsons trouble. It
seemed at any time Hopp could get to the basket and during the runs
that got them back into the game, it was Hopp going to the basket,
either to score or kick out to Fry that put the Railers in their
best positions. Jacksonville closed out the quarter with two more
baskets in close. It was not a typical quarter defensively as too
many passes over the top and through the zone led to easy points for
the Railer opponents.
Up 11-7, Jacksonville continued their dominance inside. After
another basket from Brandon McCombs, the Railer defense was forced
to sag even more to protect the outside. This left them vulnerable
to easy outside shooting, converted by James White, whose three
finalized a 9-0 to put Jacksonville up 16-7. The Railers’ best
rhythm came during the last half of the second quarter. A pass from
Drew Bacon to Fry found Fry open for the first of his five threes of
the day. Taking a page from Jacksonville, Lincoln attacked the
Crimsons inside to draw within 16-14 on a drive by Hopp and putback
on an offensive rebound by Bowers. McCombs stalled the Railer
momentum within another lay-in but Fry was found open again for
another three to pull Lincoln within one at 18-17.
With everything that happened in the first half, Lincoln (4-2) had a
shot to take the lead at halftime but Hopp’s shot at the buzzer did
not find the bottom of the basket and the Railers went to the locker
room down just one.
The early stages of the third quarter went back and forth. A
four-point run from Jacksonville was answered by a shot in the lane
from Hopp and a 15 footer from Bowers. The Crimsons again used the
inside to go up 26-21, and was poised to go up more, but a steal
from Hopp, who took it coast to coast for a scooping layup, kept
Lincoln close. After Hays hit another three, Hopp scored on a
similar layup keeping the deficit at four 29-25.
[to top of second column] |
Jacksonville was able to stretch the lead back to nine at 34-25 when
Riley Dugan hit from long range. Fry answered back to bring Lincoln
within six heading to the fourth quarter. White started the fourth
making a three, putting the lead back to nine. Hopp did what he
could all day to keep Lincoln in the contest and that continued in
the fourth. A drive and an 18-footer pulled the Railers to within
five. A basket by McCombs was answered by another three from Fry and
Lincoln continued to creep closer and closer, now at 39-35.
A big possession of the day saw White miss a jumper from the outside
and the rebound hit the floor. Amongst all the Railers, it was Tyler
Rose who picked it up and was able to lay it in and extend the lead.
If Lincoln gets that rebound and scores, who knows how the game
changes. With 1:57 to go Fry hit the last of his threes and it was
now a one possession game at 41-38. Up to this point of the game,
Jacksonville had missed all four of their free throw attempts so you
thought sending them to the line might work in Lincoln’s favor.
With 40.7 seconds remaining, Jacksonville’s Joe Brannan sank both
free throws and that was followed by Dugan splitting a pair from the
line to put the game at what would eventually be the final score of
44-38. Lincoln put forth a lot of effort to stay in the game, but at
the end, the offense seemed out of sync. “I was disappointed in how
our kids played the last four minutes,” Alexander said. “We just
didn’t get it done.”
So, through six games, Lincoln is standing in the same place they
were last year. A record of 4-2, losses to Mahomet-Seymour and
Jacksonville, but also champions of the Eaton Electrical Round Robin
Tournament. The next step of the Railer season will be Friday night
as they travel to Rochester to face off against the Rockets.
Hopp led the Railers with 16 points, Fry added 15, and Bowers
tallied seven. For years, Lincoln has been synonymous with threes.
However, there could be some rough games ahead if only three Railers
are scoring a game.
LINCOLN (38)
Hopp 7-17 2-2 16, Fry 5-8 0-0 15, Bowers 3-9 0-0 7, Aeilts 0-1 0-0
0, Bacon 0-1 0-0 0, Kirby 0-2 0-0 0, Hullinger 0-0 0-0 0. TEAM 15-38
2-2 38. 3pt FG 6-17 (Fry 5-7, Bowers 1-4, Hopp 0-2, Kirby 0-2,
Aeilts 0-1, Bacon 0-1).
JACKSONVILLE (44)
McCombs 5-7 0-1 10, White 4-7 0-1, Hays 3-10 0-0 8, Dugan 3-3 1-4 8,
Rose 3-3 0-0 6, Brannan 0-1 2-2 2, TEAM 15-31 3-8 44. 3pt FG 5-14
(White 2-5, Hays 2-7, Dugan 1-1, Brannan 0-1).
LCHS 7-10-11-10 38
JACKSONVILLE 11-7-16-10 44
[Jeff Benjamin]
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