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 After regulation ended with the score knotted at 32, each team was
held to just two points each in the first extra session. But Lincoln
outscored the Rockets 14-6 in the second overtime to hand the hosts
their first loss on the season. Free throws certainly played a key
role in the win as 13 of their overtime points came from the line.
On a foggy and rainy Friday night, both teams’ offenses looked just
as dreary. The game was scoreless until Rochester’s Dalton Handlin
scored at the 5:17 mark and followed that up with a three-pointer
off a Lincoln turnover and the Rockets had blasted off to an early
5-0 lead. It was not until 3:38 left in the opening stanza that the
Railers scored and not in the most conventional way. Senior KJ Fry
was fouled while making a three pointer and hit the subsequent free
throw to convert a four point play and pull Lincoln within one.
Fry’s team-leading 20th three of the season got the Railers on the
board and, from the opposite end of the stat sheet, Hopp’s first
from long distance on the season put Lincoln up 7-5. The Railer run
continued on a 15-footer from Hopp and a drive from Isaiah Bowers
that put the good guys up 11-5, forcing Rochester coach Mike Steers
to take a timeout at 1:12.
The first quarter scoring was ended by the player who started it all
as Handlin hit another three to close the gap to 11-8. One of the
main keys to the Railer win was the defense shutting Handlin down
the rest of the way. As the fourth quarter and overtime played out,
it was easy to tell the Rochester senior getting more and more
frustrated.
The Lincoln offense continued to run smoothly from inside and out.
Baseline drives and baskets from Hopp and Bowers put the Railers up
15-11. When the offense went through Hopp, there was a noticeable
difference and the scoring struck from outside as Hopp dropped off a
pass at the top of the key for Bryson Kirby who hit the shot to push
the advantage to 18-11. Hopp’s final points of the half put the
Railers on top 20-14. Rochester drew closer by scoring too easily on
an out of bounds play, lobbing the ball up to 6’6” junior Collin
Stallworth, who was able to catch at the top of his leap and finger
roll the ball into the basket. Drew Bacon’s three attempt just
before half fell short and the Railers took a four point lead into
half at 20-16.
In the early part of the season, we’ve talked a lot about how
athletic Hopp is and he may not score a more difficult basket than
what he did early in the third quarter. After a baseline drive, Hopp
found himself stuck under the basket with no place to go. Somehow,
stepping one way and then the other, Hopp contorted his body toward
the lane, flipping the ball high over his head. Someway, the
Railers’ leading scorer got the friendly bounce and Lincoln moved up
22-16.
One thing Railer Nation has seen from this squad so far is long
scoring droughts, something that occurred during the third. “I
thought we got stale in the third quarter,” Lincoln coach Neil
Alexander said. “We worked hard and we played hard, but we also made
some bad decisions.”
With five straight points, Rochester climbed to within one only to
see Lincoln pull away again. After a steal, Bowers looked ahead to
find a wide open Fry, who laid it up and in. Bowers followed that up
with a three, while Hopp and Bacon took advantage of the over
aggressive man-to-man defense by the Rockets when the senior made a
great back door cut and scored off a perfect pass from the
sophomore. It was the largest lead of regulation at 29-21.
And that is where things stalled out.
After Lincoln used an 11-0 run in the first quarter, the Rockets
answered with one of their own. During the run, with 3:58 left, the
Rockets fought all the way back to take the lead with a three from
Matt McClintock. By the time the run was over, Rochester had built a
32-29 lead. The Railers turned to their leader to draw them closer
as Hopp cut the deficit to one. Lincoln had a chance to avoid
overtime when Fry was fouled on a three-point try. With 1:57 to go,
Fry hit the first to tie the game, but missed the next two to leave
the game even. Both teams came up short as the final two minutes
ticked off the clock and the game remained tied at 32 at the end of
regulation.
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The overtime period started with both teams a bit cautious, not
wanting to make the mistake that would be capitalized on by their
opponents. Finally, at 2:40 left, Fry redeemed himself by knocking
down a pair of free three throws. Now, if it was redemption that led
the Lincoln’s overtime points, it was a bit of luck that got the
game tied. Rochester’s Nic Baker fired up a high arching three from
the right wing that fell way short of the mark. Unfortunately for
Lincoln, the “shot” ended up more of a pass as it dropped right in
the hands of Dan Ziegler who caught the errant attempt and laid it
in to tie the game again.
Again, both teams had their chances but it would take another extra
period to settle the contest. This time, Lincoln won the opening tip
and did not waste time as Garrett Aeilts stepped up and hit his
first basket of the night, a three-pointer early in Lincoln’s first
possession to put the Railers up 37-34. Before Rochester knew what
hit them Hopp and Aeilts each sank two free throws and with 2:19
left, Lincoln had jumped out to a 41-34 lead. As Lincoln continued
to dominate in minutes 37 through 40, the closest Rochester would
come was 43-38. One after another, the Railers did their job at the
free throw line and ultimately put win number five on the season
total, finally subduing the Rockets 48-40.
“I’m really proud of our kids tonight,” Alexander said. “One of the
things we have to work on is we have to get a shot on every
possession. We can’t turn it over and we know we aren’t likely to
get second shots. But tonight, I’m really proud of them.”
Hopp led the way with 20 points, with Fry and Bowers adding nine
apiece. Aeilts was huge in the second overtime, scoring all seven of
his points in the extra-extra session. Kirby rounded out the scoring
with three.
Busy week coming up for the Railers. There is a Friday-Saturday
doubleheader at home with visits from SHG and Springfield. Earlier
in the week, the Railers matchup at Collinsville will be known. It
is expected the seeds will be settled on sometime Sunday evening
with the brackets most likely to be released on Monday, As soon as
the information is available, you can find it here on Lincoln Daily
News.
LINCOLN (48)
Hopp 7 5-6 20, Fry 2 4-6 9, Bowers 3 2-6 9, Aeilts 1 4-4 7, Kirby 1
0-0 3, Bacon 0 0-0 0, Hullinger 0 0-0 0. TEAM 14 15-22 48. 3pt FG 5
(Aeilts, Hopp, Fry, Bowers, Kirby).
ROCHESTER (40)
McClintock 15, Zeigler 11, Handlin 8, Stallworth 4, Sutker 2. TEAM
15 5-10 40. 3pt FG 5 (McClintockl 3, Handlin, Zeigler).
LCHS 11-9-9-3-2-14 48
ROCHESTER 8-8-7-9-2-8 40
[Jeff Benjamin]
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