Railers fall to Rock Island 54-53 in overtime

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[January 19, 2020]    It was a non-conference battle of two Class 3A state-ranked teams Saturday night in Rock Island. The Lincoln Railers entered the game with a 15-1 record and a no. 6 ranking. Meanwhile the Rock Island Rocks had the no. 7 spot secured in the state with a 14-2 record.

 

With the Rocks having the home court advantage, they quickly ran out to a 4-0 lead over Lincoln.

Dylan Singleton scored Lincoln’s first points on his drive to the bucket to cut the lead in half. But Lincoln missed a string of threes early on and eventually looked up to find themselves trailing 9-2.

Finally, it was Kaden Froebe connecting from long range to make the score 9-5. Too many Railer turnovers allowed the Rocks to go on a run and take a 14-5 advantage. Remember for a Neil Alexander team like this, one turnover is too many and up against a good ball-handling club like Rock Island, the Railers had their hands full.

Singleton would cut the lead in half again, this time 14-7, with a minute left to play in the first quarter. Froebe hit another three before the quarter closed and Lincoln trailed just 14-10 at the end of one.

Andrew McDuffy was quick out of the huddle to launch a three for the Rocks and extend the lead to 17-10 in the second quarter.

The Railers held their own in this quarter and after a basket by Landon Hullinger the deficit was cut to 19-14. After Singleton’s bucket in the lane just ahead of the halftime buzzer, the Rocks lead was 26-20. The Railers had not put together a spectacular first half as many would have to agree, but one thing about this Railer team is they never give up.

Now the third quarter would see the Railers finally turn up the heat and take the lead. Led by a couple threes from Kameron Whiteman and 11 points out of Froebe, the Railers used the eight minutes to take the lead from the Rocks. At the end of the third quarter the Railers led 37-32 over Rock Island.

Fourth quarter action would find the Rocks on the run again and with just five minutes left to play the Railers lead was down to a point, 39-38 the score. That lead disappeared on the next Rock Island possession and only escalated with the Rocks in front 44-41.

With less than a minute to play Lincoln was down 47-45 and had the ball and lost it. The Railers fouled Eli Reese with 16.3 seconds left and sent him to the free throw line. Luckily, Reese missed both shots and Lincoln had another opportunity to score.

This time Landon Hullinger was fouled and he went to the free throw line. Hullinger’s two free throws were good with a couple seconds left in the game and the two teams would head to overtime knotted at 47-47.

The five minute overtime did not lack intensity. The Rocks took a 49-48 lead. Then it was the Railers with the 50-49 lead on a basket in the lane by Froebe. Next Taurean Holtam’s shot put the Rocks back on top 51-50. Will Ewald’s three from the top of the key would put the Railers in front 53-51 with 39.2 seconds left in overtime.

But with ten seconds remaining and the ball in the hands of Rock Island, McDuffy would handle a quick pass from his teammate and decide to toss up a shot from the top of the key himself. The ball hit the rim first and took a bounce high up in the air, right before it passed through the basket. The Rocks took a 54-53 lead as three seconds remained on the clock. Froebe tossed up one more shot in desperation for the win and it was off.

The Railers suffer their second overtime loss of the season as the Rocks finish on top 54-53.

Lincoln’s record falls to 15-2 and the Rocks’ record improves to 15-2.

Kaden Froebe led all scorers with 28 points. Taurean Holtam led the Rocks with a double-double, 16 points and 12 rebounds.

In the JV game, Lincoln lost 64-42 to Rock Island. Andrew Graue led the Railers with 15 points.

Lincoln will play at Chatham Glenwood Tuesday night with the Varsity game scheduled for 7 p.m. The JV will tip-off at 5:30 p.m.


Varsity scoring

Lincoln 53

Froebe 28
Singleton 8
Whiteman 6
Hullinger 6
Ewald 5

Rock Island 54

Holtam 16
Nimmers 15
McDuffy 11
Gufstafson 5
Sigel 3
Reese 2
Metcalf 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 42

Graue 15
B. Whiteman 9
Koehler 7
Pollice 5
Miller 4
Sasse 2

Rock Island 64

Rios 19
Anderson 14
Beal 13
Randle 9
Pulliam 6
Hunter 2
Webb 1

[Teena Lowery]

 

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