Railers bury the Potters
Froebe's 20 points leads Lincoln past Morton 55-34

[January 19, 2019] 

It was a fun evening inside Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium Friday night as the Lincoln Railers (15-2) knocked out the Morton Potters (15-6) by a final score of 55-34. The scoring was off to a slow start with Morton's Barik Olden finally getting the first basket of the game at the 5:25 mark in the first quarter. Jermaine Hamlin quickly answered back at the other end for Lincoln with a nice little spin move that resulted in a soft jumper. Olden would give Morton one more lead in the ballgame with his field goal at the 3:45 mark and the 4-2 lead would be the end of the Potters chances. Once again Lincoln dominated in this one. Ewald with the three was all it took to get the Railers stirred up. Next it was Kaden Froebe on the drive and drawing the foul. This resulted in an 8-4 Lincoln lead and the best was yet to come. A Lincoln steal and a bucket by Dylan Singleton under the basket put Lincoln on top 10-6. Enter Noah Funk and Landon Hullinger and just wait, you know something good is about to happen. The Railers dribbled time off the clock for about a minute and to be honest there was so much chitter-chatter from the Railers bench that it was a little chaotic. But looking back that had to be the point of it all. The Potters had no clue what was about to hit them and meanwhile the Railers bench was up with arms in the air as Hullinger lobbed the ball up and over everyone towards Hamlin for the perfect alley-oop. It was a perfect rim-rattling basket. That move brought the crowd up off their seats and the hooping and hollering in the gym was a sweet sound. Hamlin hit that dunk with 2.6 seconds left giving Lincoln a 12-6 lead over Morton as the quarter came to an end.

Hamlin's quick bucket to start the second quarter extended the lead to 14-6. Lincoln just kept clicking. Froebe's steal, layup, and that ever-so-sweet "and one" put Lincoln in front 17-9. Back-to-back threes from Ewald stretched the lead to 23-9. Olden hit a jumper for the Potters with just under 2:00 minutes to play in the first half and with the score now 23-11, Olden alone had eight of the Potters points. Lincoln would get a couple free throws from Froebe to finish the first half scoring and a 25-11 Railer lead was the result as the teams headed to the locker room.

The Railers third quarter was full of exciting moments, too. The Potters lost track of Singleton on an inbounds pass so Froebe pretty much handed him the ball under the basket and Lincoln was up 28-17. Froebe, who was playing hard every second of his 30:21 in the game, then took advantage of Morton's defense and schooled those defenders with back-to-back drives to the basket. The crowd really erupted when Ewald hit a three at the 1:31 mark. But hang on, there's more. Singleton caused the crowd to really explode as he drove to the basket, scored and got the foul. He bounced in the free throw just after it hit the rim and boom! All that was missing was the fireworks. Lincoln had doubled-up the Potters 38-19 and the Lincoln fans were enjoying their own version of "Friday Night Frenzy." This score would settle the end of the third quarter and every fan in the gym who was rooting for the green and red team was smiling ear to ear.

The Railers continuing rolling in the fourth quarter. Froebe got things going with yet another drive and foul. He's good for three points nearly every time on this move. Meanwhile on defense, Froebe was hustling his heart out and even pulled down a team-high seven rebounds against Morton. Froebe's hustle around the basket against the big guys of Morton had Lincoln fan John Guzzardo grinning as he said, "He's jumping outta the gym tonight!" The Railers lead grew to 44-23 as Kameron Whiteman used a nice ball fake thru the lane on his way towards a layup. Morton would continue to give it their best effort in the fourth quarter.

Kaden Froebe led the Railers with 20 points and 7 rebounds as Lincoln downed Morton 55-34.

A couple threes by Olden gave the Potters something to cheer about. But down the stretch Lincoln hit 8-for-8 from the free throw line and the Lincoln lead was solid. And Lincoln's bench is so deep this year. Enter sophomore Seth Tungate into the game late in the fourth quarter and here is yet another reason to be excited. Tungate steals the ball and quickly runs for a layup. The crowd absolutely loves it! With a minute left to play Lincoln is up 55-34 after Tungate's move. Morton would miss a couple shots after this and it was time to send the Potters home. Time expired and Lincoln was ready to shake hands and call it an early night. Win no. 15 was fun inside the warm and cozy Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium.

Kaden Froebe led Lincoln with 20 points. Will Ewald had 12 points for the Railers.

Morton's Barik Olden led all scorers with 23 points.

The Railers JV team also defeated Morton in the early game by a score of 45-35. Landon Hullinger led Lincoln with 24 points.

Lincoln's game versus Washington tonight has been postponed.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 55

Froebe 20
Ewald 12
Singleton 9
Hamlin 8
Whiteman 2
Tungate 2
Pozsgai 2

Morton 34

Olden 23
Crider 5
Gudeman 3
Richards 2
Getz 1

JV scoring

Lincoln 45

Hullinger 24
Tungate 12
McCraith 7
B. Whiteman 2

Morton 35

Anderson 9
Jackson 9
Getz 4
Everding 4
Krueger 3
Kuhn 3
Durbin 3

[Teena Lowery]