Lincoln puts it all together to knock off #1 Lanphier
LINCOLN 64, LANPHIER 47

[February 11, 2017]  Scientists were giddy on Friday due to the rare occurrence of a lunar eclipse, a “snow” moon, a comet fly-by, and a visible fly over of the International Space Station. It is truly unusual for all these things to come together at the same time. Funny what can happen when a lot of things come together at just the right moment.

Maybe like what happened at Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium on Friday night?

The last visit for Lanphier as a conference mate of Lincoln will definitely be a memorable one, but not for the Lions. Lanphier came to town as the number one team in class 3A but made the trip back to Springfield on the short end of a 64-47 loss to the Lincoln Railers. It was a game in which almost everything went right for the Railers and, in the end, may have been quite the blueprint heading down the homestretch.

“I’m really happy for the kids, they needed this,” Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said after the game. “We did not have a good week of practice and I was a little concerned about how tonight would turn out. Now, I guess I have to worry about them thinking they can practice like that but play like this.”

Coach Al was chuckling about the practice performance going forward and he was all smiles about the play of his team, especially the shooting. The team shot 72 percent from the floor, over 90 percent from three point range, and 80 percent from the free throw line. Junior Isaiah Bowers and senior Bryson Kirby each established career highs, combining for 51 points in the win. Bowers’ 30 points was a combination of three early threes and then settling in inside the lane while Kirby was a perfect 7 of 7 from three point range for 21 points. Ben Grunder also reached double figures with 11 points. Coming into the night, the big three that was expected to carry their team to victory was Lanphier’s Yakeema Rose, Cardell McGee, and Aundrae Williams. The trio came in averaging about 45 points a game, but the Lincoln defense clamped down to hold them to only 25 points. After Friday, the big three that made the difference on the scoreboard was the trio of Bowers, Kirby, and Grunder and their 62 points (they came in averaging 27).

It was, without question, Lincoln’s best game of the season and it came at the right moment. First, it always feels good to knock off Lanphier plus it could make a difference in where the Railers land when the seeds are handed out later next week for state tournament play.

The game did not get off to a good start for the Railers as Lanphier’s Williams was fouled shooting a three. Making two of the three, Williams gave the Lions an early 2-0 lead. Now, be honest. Do you think anyone would have predicted that would be their only lead of the night? When Bowers got Lincoln on the board with a three, Lincoln took the lead and never gave it back. It was time for Kirby to get heated up. The leading three point shooter on the squad connected for two in a row and saw Bowers score in the lane putting Lincoln up 11-3, forcing Lanphier coach Blake Turner to take a timeout to try to get his players refocused.

A basket from Rose ended the 11-1 run from the Railers only to have Bowers hit two more three pointers to put Lincoln up 17-5. The first quarter came to a close in fantastic fashion with a score from Bowers and a buzzer beating three from Kirby to send the Railers into the second quarter up 22-8. Remember when Lincoln needed four quarters AND overtime to score 22 against Glenwood?

With Bowers (13) and Kirby (9) on their way to career nights, credit must also be given to the Lincoln defense. Lanphier came in averaging over 60 points a game including a contest last week where they teased 100 against MacArthur. Lanphier scored the second quarter’s first before Kirby hit another three. Up 25-10, Lincoln’s next basket was the perfect snapshot of Lincoln play on Friday night. After a missed shot, Lanphier could not quite control the basketball. As the ball squirted loose, both Drew Bacon and Ben Grunder were on the floor battling for possession. Bacon eventually grabbed the ball, fired it out to an open Titus Cannon and, as the Lanphier defense turned to find the ball, Cannon fired back down to the low block where an open Bowers converted and Lincoln extended their lead to 17.

Grunder scored after a nice move in the lane to make it 29-10. It wasn’t until the latter stages of the second quarter when Karl Wright III scored two baskets, the second on a one-hand dunk, that Lanphier had scored on consecutive possessions. Lincoln did not score from the field for the rest of the half but Bowers hit four free throws leading the Railers to a 33-16 halftime lead. So, a couple of season long trends were now going to be put to the test. Entering the contest, Lincoln was 13-1 with a halftime lead and any game where the Railers had gained at least an eight point lead had ended up in the win column. But, this was no ordinary team that would challenge those trends. This was the number one team and they were not going to make it easy to knock them off.

Of course, it did take them a while to start putting up a fight. I wonder if the paint on the wall of the visitors’ locker room peeled any during the halftime speech by Lanphier’s coach Turner. The Lions (19-3, 12-2) did not leave the locker room area until there was only about ten seconds left on the halftime clock. Whatever the message was, I’m sure it was delivered with feeling.

The first thirty seconds did not bode well for the Railers. A three from Williams and a travel by Lincoln left some with the ‘uh-oh, here we go feeling.’ There may have been some in the crowd thinking that but the players were all business. “I thought they played with a lot of poise tonight. We handled the pressure rather well,” Alexander said. “There were a couple of moments late, but overall we handled it.”

The answer most of the night was to find Kirby. The senior, who has now moved into a tie for 15th all-time with Derek Schrader with 109 career threes, hit two more in a row to put Lincoln up by 20. After Bowers scored again to give the Railers a 41-21 lead,, Lanphier put together their last best chance to comeback. A 6-0 run capped by a three point play from Wright brought the Lions to within 14. Grunder made a pair of free throws before Bowers put a bow on the third quarter on an offensive rebound and putback score to send the Railers to the fourth up 45-27.

During the fourth quarter, the closest Lanphier would get was 16. When Lanphier would score, the Railers would answer, not fall victim to turnovers (only 8 on the night) to allow the opponents to have a chance. After Kirby started the scoring with this seventh and final three and Titus Cannon added a pair of free throws, the rest of the scoring was handled by Grunder and Bowers.

On Friday night, the Railers (16-9, 10-4) showed just how good they can be. They were presented a challenge and they answered it. “I told them, you know, tonight only four teams are going to get a chance to play the number one team in the state,” Alexander said, “and you’re one of them.” The win also guarantees the team will finish above .500 in both the conference and overall.

Bowers led with 30 while Kirby scored 21. If you’re going to beat number one, a career night is good, but two is better. Grunder added 11 while Cannon chipped with two.

On Saturday night, the Railers will step out of conference for the final time as they travel to take on the Wildcats from Normal West. Sophomores will tip at 5:00 with the varsity ready to go at 6:30. The sophomores were close on Friday night, but eventually fell 47-42.

LINCOLN (64)

Bowers 11 5-6 30, Kirby 7 0-0 21, Grunder 3 5-7 11, Cannon 0 2-2 2, Hullinger 0 0-0 0, Bacon 0 0-0 0, Birnbaum 0 0-0 0, Combs 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0-0 0, Sloan 0 0-0 0. TEAM 21 12-15 64. 3pt FG 10 (Kirby 7, Bowers 3).

LANPHIER (47)

Rose 11, Williams 11, C.Jones 8, Wright 7, McGee 3, Day 3, Boles 2, Tarr 2. TEAM 17 7-15 47. 3pt FG 6 (Williams 3, C.Jones 2, Day).

LCHS 22-11-12-19 64
LANPHIER 8-8-11-20 47