Lincoln College hosts AII Men’s Basketball Tournament
Voorhees edges out College of the Ozarks in double OT

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[February 27, 2019] 

Over the weekend the Lincoln community was packed to the gills with young basketball players in town for the John Welsh Memorial Trojan Tournament. At the same time another important sporting event with great implications for the future was taking place at Lincoln College.

Lincoln College played host to a men’s basketball tournament of college teams belonging to the Association of Independent Institutions. The tournament was a post-season event for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics colleges and included the eighth seeded Lincoln Christian University in Lincoln. The top three teams at the end of the tournament were then qualified to play in the 2019 NAIA Division II National Tournament.

Because Lincoln College is in its first year competing as a four-year school, it is in a “probationary” year with the NAIA and the Lynx did not qualify for this competition.

Prior to the game, LC President Dr. David Gerlach noted, “We are proud to host the AII Championship Tournament. We welcome these top teams to the campus and we look forward to being part of the competition in coming years.”

Other colleges that were in town came from great distances to visit Lincoln and play in the Jack Nutt Arena.

Participating colleges included:

  1. Washington Adventist University, Takoma Park, Maryland;

  2. Indiana University Northwest, Gary, Indiana;

  3. Green Mountain College, Poultney, Vermont;

  4. College of the Ozarks, Point Lookout, Missouri;

  5. Haskell Indian Nations University, Lawrence, Kansas;

  6. Voorhees College, Denmark South Carolina;

  7. Northern New Mexico College, Espanola, New Mexico.

  8. Lincoln Christian University, Lincoln

The tournament began on Friday with the first game featuring the No. 1 seed Indian University Northwest vs No. 8 seed Lincoln Christian University. Indiana won the game 96-91, but not without a gallant fight from the LCU Red Lions. While Indiana jumped out with a big lead in the first quarter, LCU fought hard and by the end of the fourth quarter that lead had diminished considerable, with the LCU opponent beating them by only five points.

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Game two on Friday featured the Washington Adventist University vs Green Mountain College. That was another extremely tight game as WAU beat out Green Mountain by only 1 point with a final score of 75-74.

Game three saw the College of the Ozarks beat out Haskell Indian Nations University by only three points with a final score of 71-68.

The last game of the day on Friday saw the biggest separation in scores at the buzzer as Voorhees College ended with a nine point lead over Northern New Mexico. The final score was Voorhees 90 – Northern New Mexico 81.
 


On Saturday the tournament continued on with winners pitted against winners cooking down to playoffs at the end of the day.

In the end it was Voorhees College and College of the Ozarks that went head to head for the championship. That game was a nail biter as the two top rated teams showed the bleachers the talent and skill that had brought them this far. In a stunning and exciting last second shot, Voorhees’ Javari Albergottie threw a field goal from the right wing in the second overtime of the game and cinched the title for his team. The final score Voorhees 91, College of the Ozarks 89.

The tournament concluded with Voorhees as the Champion, College of the Ozarks taking second, and third place in the tournament went to Washington Adventists. All three teams will now represent the A.I.I. in the 2019 NAIA Division II National Tournament.

As a community, this tournament and future events hosted by the athletics departments at Lincoln College serve as an opportunity for Lincoln and Logan County to put its best foot forward and impress those who are coming in from great distances. This sports event, along with the John Welsh Tournament last weekend, and the All Star Boys Basketball Tournament coming up this weekend, serves as an example of the impact our schools and colleges have on our local economy. With each visitor comes an opportunity for them shop, eat, and stay in Lincoln. They may also be drawn back in the future to explore all that we have to offer - including Abraham Lincoln and Route 66.

[Nila Smith]

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