Lincoln Land Men's Basketball Earn A Big MWAC Win

[January 23, 2023] A Saturday afternoon Mid-West Athletic Conference showdown turned into a dogfight that saw Lincoln Land come away victorious 69-68 over Illinois Central College.

Neither team was able to pull away by more than 7 points and most of the game was played within a two possession window. Each team brought a strength to the game. The Loggers shot effectively on the evening, but struggled with turnovers. The Loggers gave up 18 possessions on the afternoon, 3 more than the Cougars of Illinois Central College. However, when the Loggers got shots up, they connected on 57% of those shots (28-49) in the game and came out hot, knocking in 14-22 (64%) in the first half. Illinois Central's advantage came on the boards. The Cougars only shot 39% on the game, but got 21 more shots than the Loggers from the field because the rebounded 20 offensive boards on the afternoon. ICC had 16 second chance points to keep them in the game all afternoon.

The back and forth came down to the final 3:00 of the game. LLCC led 63-62 with 3:14 to go and got a quick scoring spurt to go up 67-62 to make it look like it was the Logger's game. However, ICC got back to back defensive stops and then a Logger turnover gave ICC the chance to score 6 straight points to get the game to 67-66 with under 1:30 to play. Neither team was able to score over their next two possessions and a Camden Kincaid rebound with :20 left in the game proved decisive. Kincaid was fouled and walked to the line to knock in both free throws to go up 69-66 with :14 left.

Lincoln Land came out of a timeout and forced a wild three point attempt as the clock wound down. The Cougars got the offensive rebound on the shot and put it up and in with :0.02 left to get to the final score of 69-68, but it did not hurt the Loggers who secured the inbound catch to win the game.

Cameron Kincaid had the last 4 points for the Loggers on his way to his second straight 20 point game to lead the Loggers and all scorers in the game. Stephan Douglas had a solid contest by adding in 15 points while Axel Laby had one of his best efforts fighting back from multiple injuries by adding in 12, including multiple big late buckets to help keep ICC at bay.

Lincoln Land wins for the first time in over a month to get to 6-10 and 1-1 in MWAC play. The Loggers also improve to 2-2 in Region 24 play. Lincoln Land will have a tough week next week as they take on John Wood at home Wednesday evening and then travel to Champaign to take on Parkland College.