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 Lincoln started the day against a quicker, bigger, and more athletic
East St. Louis team. After being down 13 with 5:29 to go in the
third quarter, it would be hard to convince most people that the
Railers found a way to put it in the win column. Well, let those
folks know about the 33-7 run the Railers went on the end the game
and knock off the Flyers 59-46. After sophomore Isaiah Bowers hit
15-footer at the buzzer to end the first quarter, Lincoln did not
score again until 6:17 to go in the third quarter. In that time, the
Flyers went from down 16-11 to up 28-16 as the Railers were held
scoreless in the second quarter.
Nothing was going right for the Railers in the tailspin. Even after
KJ Fry ended the drought with a three pointer, East St. Louis kept
answering back on the back of threes from Kenny Roberson, the
Flyers’ high man with 19 points. But, the Railers never quit and
eventually the tables turned and Lincoln was about to put on a show.
Down 39-26, Garrett Aeilts got the fun started with a three pointer.
Bowers then scored on a layup off a nice interior pass from Aron
Hopp. Bowers and Hopp led the Railers in game one, combining for 38
points. After a pair of free throws from Bowers, Hopp was fouled on
a drive to basket, but could not convert the three point play. The
senior had a chance to tie the game, but split a pair of free throws
to leave Lincoln down one at 39-38. Finally, after fighting all the
way back, Aeilts gave the Railers the lead back with 4:50 to go as
he slipped a screen in the lane, took the pass from Bryson Kirby,
and his lay in put Lincoln up 40-39.
And they never looked back.
Kirby connected from the corner for one of Lincoln’s five threes to
put the Railers up four. After a basket from Karon Randolph, it was
a free throw shooting contest. Bowers made three of four to push the
Lincoln advantage to 46-41, and then his steal and driving layup put
the Railers up by seven. A final three from Roberson pulled the
Flyers as close as they would get at 48-44. As the game wound down,
Aeilts, Bowers, Kirby, and Hopp combined to hit 14 of the final 15
free throws for Lincoln, finishing 18 of 24 on the day, and giving
the Railers the 59-46 win.
“I am so very proud of our guys for this one,” Lincoln coach Neil
Alexander said after the game. “There was no quit in this team and
they put out unbelievable effort. Even when they were down, they
stuck with it. I just can’t tell you how proud I am of them.”
The Railers won every category on the stat sheet, shooting 53
percent while holding the Flyers to just 40 percent. The Railers
forced 11 turnovers while only committing six against the toughest
pressure they had seen to date. They took advantage of those East
St. Louis mistakes, scoring 20 points off the turnovers. The biggest
surprise was Lincoln outscoring the Flyers in the paint 24-18 after
trailing in that area in the first half 14-8. All this and not
scoring in the second quarter. Not a bad performance.
Hopp led the way with 20 points in game one, with Bowers, who
according to Coach Alexander “may have played his best game as a
Railer” added 18 points and 7 rebounds, tying Hopp for team honors.
Fry hit three threes for nine points, with Aeilts scoring seven and
Kirby contributing five big points.
Unfortunately, as much effort as was needed to win game one, the
physical toll might have been too much for the nightcap. That and
Decatur MacArthur.
The last time the Railers took the court against the Generals,
Lincoln was soundly defeated in the regional final last season at
Mt. Zion. Tuesday night was more of the same as the Generals
controlled the game the entire way and easily handled the Railers
59-37. MacArthur led for all but 1:14 and that was while the game
was tied at 2.
Whether it will be used as a reason, there was a hangover effect of
the effort put forth in game one. Lincoln jump shooting was not on
par with usual performances and the distance results suffered with
the Railers hitting only 3 of 17 from behind the arc. As a team,
Lincoln shot only 39 percent from the field while MacArthur had
their way all night, connecting on 57 percent. The biggest story was
the play of Keymonta Johnson, who torched the Railers for 24 points
and 12 rebounds. If he wanted the ball, he got it and when he did,
he knew what to do with it. Second and third efforts were common
place and the Railers looked like they were playing their second
game of the day.
[to top of second column] |
If it weren’t for Bowers in the first quarter, things might have
been worse. The sophomore scored 7 of his game high 16 points in the
game’s opening eight minutes. Even with that showing, Lincoln
trailer 23-11 after one. The entire game felt as though each time
Lincoln would take one step forward, Johnson and the Generals would
force them to take two large steps back. At the onset of the second
quarter, Hopp scored on a driving layup to pull Lincoln (9-3) within
ten at 23-13. The Generals came down on the next possession and,
after missing the initial shot and two putback attempts, got a
basket from Amir Brummett. If you want to win, you can’t give the
opponent two, three, and sometimes four attempts. And you definitely
can’t do it too often, but that is what the Railers did.
Randy Thaxton scored on a fast break bucket to put the lead back to
14. Kirby tried to keep Lincoln close by hitting a three on an out
of bounds play. Down 29-16, Lincoln’s last good run at the Generals
came at the end of the second quarter. Bowers scored two straight
baskets on shots in the lane and Hopp made a strong cut to the
basket and was found by Fry for a layup and the lead was cut to
seven at 29-22. After a MacArthur make, Lincoln took advantage of a
mishandled rebound to get one final shot with 0.5 seconds to go. The
Railers capitalized when Bowers took the lob pass and hit about a
10-footer at the buzzer to send Lincoln into intermission down only
31-24.
After the morning performance, being down only seven seemed easily
overcome. However, the physical struggles in game one and Keymonta
Johnson were just too much in the second half. The MacArthur senior
scored 18 of his 24 points in the second half and it felt as though
the Generals’ offense was get the ball to Johnson and let him do his
thing. Fry hit a three pointer to make it 39-30, but Lincoln would
never be within ten points again, drawing only as close as 47-37
when Kirby scored Lincoln’s last points on a three pointer with 4:49
to go in the game.
From there, MacArthur hit the gas and never looked back, finishing
the game on a 12-0 run to secure the 59-37 win.
As in the first game, the stats told the story of game two. Lincoln
hit only 39 percent, with MacArthur connecting on 57 percent. The
Railers were outrebounded 29-16 and forced only 10 turnovers which
they converted to only four points.
Bowers continued his strong day, leading the night with 16 points.
Hopp joined him in double figures with 10. Kirby finished with six,
while Fry added five.
So, there will be no three-peat at Collinsville, but the Railers
hope to bring home third place. They will get their chance by
squaring off against Quincy on Wednesday night in Collinsville. Tip
time is set for 6:00pm.
GAME ONE
LINCOLN (59)
Hopp 7-13 6-8 20, Bowers 5-8 8-10 18, Fry 3-5 0-2 9, Aeilts 2-5 2-2
7, Kirby 1-3 2-2 5, Bacon 0-0 0-0 0, Hullingers 0-0 0-0 0. TEAM
18-34 18-24 59. 3pt FG 5-14 (Fry 3-5, Kirby 1-3, Aeilts 1-4, Hopp
0-1, Bowers 0-1) Rebounds 21, Assists 10, Turnovers 6.
EAST ST. LOUIS (46)
Roberson 19, Baxter 11, Randolph 7, Chairs 5, Grissom 2, Carter 2.
TEAM 16-40 7-10 46. 3pt FG 7-20 (Roberson 5, Charis, Randolph).
Rebounds 22, Assists 13, Turnovers 11.
LCHS 16-0-15-28 59
EAST ST LOU 11-15-13-7 46
GAME TWO
LINCOLN (37)
Bowers 7-14 2-5 16, Hopp 5-13 0-0 10, Kirby 2-5 0-0 6, Fry 2-4 0-0
3, Aeilts 0-3 0-0 0, Bacon 0-1 0-0 0, Hullinger 0-1 0-0 0, Biggs 0-0
0-0 0, O’Donoghue 0-0 0-0 0. TEAM 16-41 2-5 37. 3pt FG 3-17 (Kirby
2-5, Fry 1-3, Bacon 0-1, Bowers 0-1, Hullinger 0-1, Aeilts 0-3, Hopp
0-3). Rebounds 16, Assists 9, Turnovers 6.
MACARTHUR (59)
Johnson 24, Am.Brummett 13, Cook 6, McClain 5, Smith 5, Thaxton 4,
K.Brummett 2. TEAM 21-37 12-14 59. 3pt FG 5-14 (Cook 2, Am.Brummett
2, McClain). Rebounds 29, Assists 16, Turnovers 10.
LCHS 11-13-6-7 37
D. MAC 23-8-12-16 59 |
