Lynx Men go 1-1 at A.I.I. Classic

[January 15, 2019] 

The Lincoln College Men’s Basketball team participated in the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) Classic over the weekend. The event featured teams from several independent members of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and took place on the campus of Indiana University Northwest in Gary, Indiana.

On the first day of competition, LC was able to defeated nationally ranked College of the Ozarks (#19) in overtime, however, on day two, the Lynx could not hold on against Haskell Indian Nations University (KS) and had to settle for a weekend split.

Against the College of the Ozarks, Lincoln trailed by one point at the half, and was behind by three with just four seconds remaining in the game, but a clutch three-pointer from Lincoln’s junior guard Trayvon Tyler (Rockford) tied the score at 78-78 to send the game to overtime. In the extra period, LC grabbed a six-point advantage and held on down the stretch for a 93-91 victory.

Tyler led Lincoln in scoring with 23 points, but he was not the only Lynx player to go for more than 20 points in the game. Senior guard J.J. Turner (Chicago) was good for 22 points and 10 rebounds, and senior forward Julian Powell also had a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

On Saturday, Lincoln faced off against Haskell Indian Nations University. Everything looked to be going Lincoln’s way in the first half as the Lynx opened up an early lead and took a 44-31 advantage into the halftime break. However, LC went cold in the second half and let Haskell back in the contest. Haskell grabbed the lead for good on a three-pointer with just 1:26 left in the game that put HINU up 68-65. A bucket by Trayvon Tyler with nine seconds left cut the lead to just one point, but a last second shot by Tyler hit the back of the rim and allowed Haskell to escape with the 68-67 win.

Tyler again led Lincoln in scoring with 26 points. Darnell Latham Jr. (Chicago) and Julian Powell each had 12 points in the contest.

The loss to Haskell snapped an eight-game win streak for Lincoln and moved the team’s record to 14-7 on the season. Next up for LC is another road game at Olivet-Nazarene University on January 14th at 7:00 PM.

[Mark Tippett
Lincoln College
Sports Information]