Lincoln Railers fall to Mattoon 35-32

[March 03, 2021] 

The Green Wave rallied in the fourth quarter to come from behind and beat the Lincoln Railers Tuesday night 35-32 in Mattoon.

Lincoln dashed out to a 2-0 lead on a layup by Landon Hullinger to start the game. After free throws by Hullinger and Dylan Singleton, the game was knotted at 6-6. The Green Wave took a 10-6 lead over Lincoln at the end of the first quarter.

The Green Wave stretched the lead to 13-6 on a three to start the second quarter scoring. After another three by the Green Wave, they took a 16-8 lead over Lincoln. A three-point play by Singleton and a three by Hullinger kept the Railers in the game, but a turnaround jumper in the lane at the buzzer by Mattoon allowed them to take a 20-14 halftime lead.

The Railers came crawling their way back in this one in the third quarter. Hullinger went 4-for-4 from the free throw line and sandwiched in between his trips to the line was a nice move in the lane by Brody Whiteman.

Lincoln was on a 6-0 run early in the quarter and a 20-20 tie game was the result.

Lincoln would eventually take a 24-23 lead on Singleton’s short jumper in the lane. Hullinger extended the lead to 26-23 with his jumper that touched nothing but net.

Elijah Pollice got in on the scoring action and tossed up a three and that gave the Railers a 29-23 lead. Mattoon would score one more basket in the quarter to close the gap to 29-25 after three.

The fourth quarter was ugly for Railer fans, no other way to put it. A three by the Green Wave made things intense, to say the least, and the score was 29-28.

Then a Mattoon player shoved Hullinger and Hullinger’s head bounced off the hardwood. The incident delayed the game a bit, as there was blood involved. Several minutes later Hullinger emerged with his head wrapped up much like a mummy.

The game went on and Lincoln was able to add a point to the lead on an Adam Grunder free throw. Mattoon answered back with a three to take the lead.

Then it was Whiteman on the drive, scoring to make it 32-31 in favor of the Railers. The Green Wave took the lead back, 35-32 the score with around three minutes left to play.

The final minutes of the game were not pretty. Missed shots and a travel by Lincoln dashed any hopes of a come-from-behind win for the Railers.

The game would end with Lincoln having possession of the ball and a quick inbounds pass from Hullinger to Singleton would be the Railers last opportunity. Singleton’s shot was off and Mattoon defeated Lincoln by a final score of 35-32.

Landon Hullinger led Lincoln with 13 points. Dylan Singleton scored 11 points for the Railers.

Lincoln won the JV game by a final score of 42-23. Payton Cook led Lincoln with 11 points.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 32

Hullinger 13
Singleton 11
Whiteman 4
Pollice 3
Grunder 1

Mattoon 35

Bradbury 13
Middleton 8
Bergstrom 6
Thomas 5
Farmer 3


JV scoring

Lincoln 42

Cook 11
Schilling 8
Bivin 7
Nelson 6
Gowin 6
Stevens 2
Sasse 2

Mattoon 23

Powers 9
Skocy 6
Grace 4
Larson 4

[Teena Lowery]