High School Boys Basketball
Mount Zion defeats Lincoln 36-27

[November 24, 2022]

The Mount Zion Braves shut down the Railers Wednesday night 36-27 in the 2022 Lincoln/Eaton Thanksgiving Tournament.

The Braves stood tall over the Railers and that alone really squelched Lincoln’s chances to score from practically anywhere on the court. The only guy on the Braves who stood less than 6’0 was senior Sam Driscoll. In fact, six players on the Braves roster boasted heights from 6’3 to 6’8.

The Railers won the tip with 6’7 Payton Cook jumping versus the Braves 6’0 junior Makobi Adams, but after a possession that lasted nearly a minute, Lincoln failed to score. The Braves struck first at the 7:00 minute mark with the first points of the game but the Railers’ Cook answered seconds later to tie the game 2-2 and that’s all the good news to report from the first quarter. Back-to-back threes by Sam Driscoll and Lyncoln Koester put Mount Zion in front 8-2. The Braves led 9-2 when a couple trees off the bench entered the game. The addition of two more 6’7 guys on the court didn’t help Lincoln’s cause at getting a good look at the basket and the second quarter came to a quick end with Mount Zion on top 11-2.

Lincoln began the second quarter with Cook driving the lane and scoring, giving Lincoln four points on the scoreboard now. The Braves however would extend the lead to 18-4. At the 5:00 mark, Cook caught the ball again in the lane and spun around to hit nothing but net, exciting the crowd. It was now Mount Zion 18 and Cook 6. With 4:15 on the clock, Trey Schilling hit a three for Lincoln and Railer Nation exploded. With the lead now cut in half, the Railers had just the spark they needed. Cook then added a couple free throws with 3:27 showing on the clock. A steal around the 2:00 mark allowed Ki’on Carson to take it to the hoop and the Railers were playing catch up with the score 19-13. Cook’s drive in the lane as one minute approached inched the Railers closer and as the game reached the halfway point, Mount Zion held a 19-15 advantage.

Lincoln had outscored the Braves 13-8 in the second quarter and given fans hope for a turnaround.

At the half, the LCHS Dance team, the Railettes, performed a routine to “I Need a Hero” and that would certainly ring true with the Railers second half. The LCHS Pep Band followed the Railettes with a performance of “Hey Baby,” a song that originally came out in 1959. Railer Nation then rolled into “We are the Mighty Railers!” and just like that the third quarter was underway.

Drew Hayes sank a free throw for Lincoln twenty seconds into the third quarter and that was it for the Lincoln offense for a while. With Koester sinking consecutive 3s for Mount Zion, testing out each corner, Lincoln fell behind 25-16. Cook cut the lead to 25-18 with his basket just ahead of the two minute mark. With around thirty seconds left, Koester answered with a two and Mount Zion owned the quarter with a 27-19 lead. Actually Koester owned the quarter, scoring all of Mount Zion’s eight points.

The fourth quarter began with Lincoln dribbling around for fifty-five seconds and unable to get a good look at the basket. Coach Neil Alexander called a timeout and immediately after that, the Railers Aidan Gowin made a corner three on the inbounds play. This was the Railers second and last three made in the entire game.

With 4:31 on the clock, Cook’s two free throws made the score 27-23 and there was hope in the hearts of the Lincoln fans. But on this night Mount Zion’s Koester really enjoyed breaking those hearts. His three stretched the lead to 30-23 and the Braves defense wasn’t about to let this one slip away. With around two minutes left in the game, the Braves lead was 34-25. Proof of how Lincoln’s night was going from beyond the arc was Nelson’s three that went in, around the rim and back out and into the hands of a Mount Zion defender.

The last of the Lincoln crowd’s cheering occurred as Trey Schilling went coast-to-coast for a layup. With less than thirty seconds remaining the score was 36-27 and that was set in stone. Lincoln falls to a really tough and talented Mount Zion team.

Hand it to the Braves, they played a tough man-to-man defense on Lincoln from time to time and the Railers just couldn’t shake them loose. The Railers are a quick team, but on this night the Mount Zion Braves showed they are quicker. It was a physical game and the most positive thing to take away might be that the Railers came up early in the season against an aggressive team and they can only learn from this experience and move forward. A good test for sure.

Offensively, shooting the three was definitely a problem for the Railers against Mount Zion. As a team, Lincoln was 2-for-25 from long range. That can’t happen again.

Bottom line though, as one Railer fan was overheard saying, “Mount Zion has been the doormat of the Apollo Conference for a decade” and it looks like that is about to change this season. You can’t take away their hustle. The Braves earned this win over Lincoln.

Payton Cook led Lincoln with 16 points.

Lyncoln Koester led Mount Zion with 16 points.

Lincoln is now 1-1 on the season. The Railers will play Belleville Althoff at 8:15 p.m. on Friday night.

In earlier tournament games Tuesday night:

In overtime:

Belleville West 68
Mahomet-Seymour 63

Cahokia 61
Belleville Althoff 78

Champaign Centennial 57
Danville 47

In the earlier tournament game Wednesday night:

Belleville West 62
Danville 41

Railer vs Braves
Scoring

Lincoln 27

Cook 16
Schilling 5
Gowin 3
Carson 2
Hayes 1

Mount Zion 36

Koester 16
Owens 6
Clark 3
Adams 3
McAtee 3
Driscoll 3
Anderson 2

[Teena Lowery]