Railers crush Belleville Althoff 67-25
Ewald leads Lincoln with 17 points

[November 30, 2019]  The Lincoln Railers continued cruising through the Lincoln/Eaton Thanksgiving Tournament by defeating Belleville Althoff 67-25 on Friday night. The Railers will play for the tournament championship tonight at 8 p.m.

The Railers put on a basketball clinic in the first quarter against the Crusaders.

Kameron Whiteman’s three to start the game immediately fired the crowd up.

Kaden Froebe followed that up with his signature baseline drive. A steal on the inbounds pass by Dylan Singleton resulted in a quick bucket.

Then back-to-back baskets by Will Ewald put Lincoln in front 12-0 and forced Belleville to call a timeout. That timeout just helped the Railers catch their breath for a moment before continuing their annihilation of the Crusaders.

Froebe came out of the huddle to get set and steal the inbounds pass for another two points. Before the run was over Froebe would sneak a behind-the-back pass over to Ewald and Lincoln’s lead to start the game was 16-0.

A free throw with 4:10 on the clock finally put Belleville in the scoring column.

The Railers retaliated with a lob pass from Whiteman into Singleton for an easy two. Whiteman would trot down the court on the next possession and set up for a three to extend the lead to 21-1.

Mack Harris finally scored the first field goal for the Crusaders with 2:38 on the clock.

A minute later it was Landon Hullinger with the baseline jam and Railer Nation was going nuts while chanting “Lando, Lando.”

The Railers closed out the first quarter scoring on a steal and Froebe proceeded to go left down the court and lay it in for a 25-3 Lincoln lead. The Railers were just having fun and so was the crowd.

The Railers continued playing unselfish basketball in the second quarter. Some quick points in the paint allowed Lincoln to stretch the lead to 35-6. Lincoln was beating their opponent every time back down the court. Singleton continued his spectacular first half with a short jumper in the lane, nothing but net, to give Lincoln a 37-8 lead. Hullinger finished the quick quarter by going back door and completing the bucket. Lincoln was up 39-13 at the half.

The second half was just a little less brutal on the Crusaders, but not much. The basketball clinic continued though as Froebe showed the kids how to spin in the lane quickly and come up with the field goal. Actually the entire crowd liked that move. Between Froebe and Ewald going either baseline or coast-to-coast, the Railers lead grew to 50-20.

Now, 6’4 sophomore Jaden Klopp came off the bench to score his first points of the game for Lincoln in the third quarter. Klopp snared the offensive rebound and put it back through the hoop. The crowd loved that too.

Meanwhile Ewald stayed hot and closed out the third with a three. The Lincoln players had barely worked up a sweat with a 56-20 lead.

The fourth quarter gave more of Lincoln’s bench a chance to score.

Elijah Pollice got his name in the books with a nice scoring drive and at that moment Lincoln was up 60-23.

Adam Grunder followed that up on the next Railer possession with a floater in the lane for two points.

Grunder and Pollice would even finish out the scoring for Lincoln. Grunder tossed in a field goal under the basket while Pollice set up beyond the three-point range and hit nothing but net.

The crowd was really pleased with the sophomore’s soft touch and probably equally as happy to exit the warm gym and head to Steak N’ Shake for after-game food and fun. No doubt by Railer Nation though, this 67-25 crushing of the Crusaders was rather fun to watch.

Will Ewald led Lincoln with 17 points. Kaden Froebe hit double-digits with 13 points. Dylan Singleton poured his 12 points in all in the first half.

The Railers edged their opponents 25-24 in the rebounding department. Kameron Whiteman led Lincoln with 4 rebounds.

The Railers improve to 3-0 on the season.

Again tonight Lincoln will tip-off for the championship at 8 p.m.

Lincoln 67

Ewald 17

Froebe 13

Singleton 12

Hullinger 8

Whiteman 6

Pollice 5

Grunder 4

Klopp 2

Belleville 25

Harris 10

Ache 4

Bruening 3

Burgner 2

Blackmon 2

Beasley 2

Connoyer 2

[Teena Lowery]