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 On Friday night, the Lincoln Railers opened the 2016 calendar year
home portion of the season by giving the fifth ranked Lanphier Lions
everything they could. The only thing missing was a notch in the win
column as the Lions did just enough to hold off the Railers and pick
up a 48-45 win at a jam-packed Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium.
And the Railers had their chances, even late. When Lanphier’s Xavier
Bishop missed the front end of a one and bonus with 34 seconds
remaining, Lincoln had the ball down just one at 46-45. After
running down the clock and calling a timeout, Lincoln put the ball
in the hands of their leading scorer Aron Hopp. With under six
seconds to go, Hopp hoisted one from 15 feet, but the iron was
unkind as the shot rattled out with Lanphier grabbing the rebound.
With the game in the balance, it is what Lincoln was looking for.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better shot,” Lincoln coach Neil
Alexander said. “15 feet at the end of the game. It just didn’t go
in.”
Even after the miss, Lincoln had one final opportunity. With Bishop
making two free throws to make it 48-45, the Railers were left with
desperation. Hopp took the inbounds pass and let a shot fly from
just beyond half court. As the shot traveled wide, Lanphier exhaled
in relief while the Railers realized they may have let one get away.
“Well, we took some bad shots, at least half a dozen,” Alexander
said. “I mean, Lincoln is known for taking good shots, and tonight
there were some bad ones. At times we had no ball movement, we
missed a layup just before half that could have been big. Yes, there
are a lot of things to work on.”
At the beginning of the game, not many would have been surprised had
the game ended up a blowout. Lanphier (13-1, 7-0) came out on fire,
blazing out to a 9-0 lead and that was without their leading scorer,
Bishop, scoring. By the time the Lions had taken the nine point
lead, Coach Alexander called for a timeout at the 4:10 to “light a
fire under them.”
Lincoln finally got on the board with Isaiah Bowers hitting a pair
of free throws at 3:48. But, on cue, Bishop hit the first of his two
threes on the night to push the lead to 12-2. With the Railers not
making a field goal in the fourth quarter on Tuesday, they were
finding themselves in danger of going two straight quarters without
a basket. Bowers took care of that with 1:21 left in the first to
make it 12-4. The Lions closed out the first quarter scoring when
Cardell McGee hit a three to push the margin to 15-4.
Lincoln ran off five in a row to start the second with Hopp hitting
from 15 feet and Bryson Kirby beginning a run of Lincoln threes.
Kirby’s long distance connection brought the deficit down to six at
15-9. Lanphier answered with an 8-0 run, five of those coming from
Bishop and as close as the Railers had climbed, they were now
looking at a 14 point deficit at 23-9. That is when Lincoln started
their comeback by featuring more Kirby. The junior caught fire,
hitting two more from three point range and the Railers were back
within eight at 23-15. Bishop ended the first half in double figures
with his next basket, giving Lanphier a ten point lead at 25-15.
After William Boles split a pair of free throws to start the half,
Lincoln continued to use the three point shot to hang in the
contest. After Kirby hit three in the first half, it was Garrett
Aeilts stepping up. “Bryson kept us in the game in the first half
and it was Garrett who got on a roll in the second half,” Alexander
said.
By the time Aeilts matched Kirby with his third three, Lincoln had
pulled within 31-26. A four point run from the Lions stretched the
lead back to nine. But, try as they might, Lanphier could not shake
the now surging Railers. Hopp hit two free throws and then scored on
a layup. Kirby followed with his fourth three of the night from the
corner to pull Lincoln within just two at 35-33. Yakeema Rose scored
to push the lead back to four, but Lincoln would not go away.
[to top of second column] |
Hopp scored on a back door layup off a perfect lead pass from Kirby
as he led Hopp on a pass that seemed to have no way of connecting.
After a Lanphier score, Bowers brought the Railers as close as they
had been since being down 2-0 when he stepped back and hit a three
as the buzzer sounded and the home squad headed to the fourth
quarter down one at 39-38.
After being down as much as 14 in the second quarter, Lincoln fought
all the way back when Bowers hit a shot at the 6:00 mark to give
Lincoln the lead at 40-39. It was the only, and a short-lived, lead
for Lincoln as Rose’s layup put the Lions back up 41-40. The closest
the Railers (9-6, 3-3) would come would be when Bowers split a pair
of free throws to tie the game at 41, but could never wrestle the
lead back. After the Lions hit three of four free throws, Hopp
pulled Lincoln within one by hitting a 17-footer from the baseline
with 1:49 left. McGee, the Lions’ player that Lincoln wanted at the
line, came up big by hitting both free throws to creep back out to a
46-43 advantage. When needed, Lanphier did the job from the line,
going 10 of 13.
It was Hopp again keeping Lincoln close when his driving layup
brought Lincoln within one at 46-45, but the fates were not smiling
on the Railers as his last two shots did not find the bottom of the
net and Lanphier escaped 48-45.
“I’m really proud of their effort tonight. I thought we played real
hard,” Alexander said. “And the crowd was fabulous. That’s why you
like to play game here, in front of this crowd. The players came out
pumped up.”
Just as Tuesday, only four players scored on Friday. Kirby, Hopp,
and Bowers scored 12 points with Aeilts adding 9.
But, in the end, the skid has reached four games with challenges on
the horizon with games next weekend against Glenwood and MacArthur
as part of the Central State 8 MidSeason Tournament.
Lincoln will host the Titans on Friday night at 7:30pm, with the
Saturday game at MacArthur tipping off at 6:30pm. If the Railers can
put together another effort like Friday night, the Railers will be
putting another one in the win column sooner than later.
LINCOLN (45)
Hopp 5 2-2 12, Bowers 3 5-8 12, Kirby 4 0-0 12, Aeilts 3 0-0 9, Fry
0 0-0 0, Biggs 0 0-0 0, Bacon 0 0-0 0, Hullinger 0 0-0 0. TEAM 15
7-10 45. 3pt FG 8 (Kirby 4, Aeilts 3, Bowers).
LANPHIER (48)
Bishop 16, Rose 10, McGee 10, Williams 6, Boles 3, Jones 3. TEAM 16
10-13 48. 3pt FG 6 (Bishop 2, Williams 2, McGee, Jones).
LCHS 4-11-13-17 45
LANPHIER 15-10-14-9 48
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