Lincoln Railers defeat Rock Island 35-30

[January 23, 2023] After a big win for the Lady Railers, the full afternoon of basketball carried over into the evening on Saturday at the Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium as the boys came from behind to defeat Rock Island 35-30.

Lincoln and Rock Island were tied 4-4 after the first quarter. Aidan Gowin and Jake Bivin scored Lincoln’s only points in the first quarter.

At the half the Rocks held a 15-14 advantage. Threes from Gowin and Camden Nelson kept the Railers in the contest. Payton Cook also added three points. Gowin was also 1-for-2 from the free throw line to contribute to the rest of the offense.

A six-point third quarter was not enough for the Railers to take over the lead and they still trailed 23-20. Drew Hayes, Tyler Sasse and Ki’on Carson scored in the third quarter for Lincoln and luckily the Rocks didn’t score much more.

The fourth quarter, however, was a game changer.

Hayes sank two free throws to edge the Railers closer, down just 23-22 now. With seven minutes left in the game, Gowin would come up huge with a three to finally give Lincoln the boost they needed. After Hayes’ turnaround on the block was good, the Railers were up 27-24. Hayes went on to sink two more free throws with 4:29 on the clock and the Railers lead was 29-24. Talk about the sophomore stepping up in a big way. With 3:15 left in the game, Nelson hit a huge three and the Railers lead was growing, 32-24 the score.
 

Cook fouled out with 2:56 left in the game and scored well below his average with three points. Luckily for the Railers, Hayes was prepared to step up even more. The Rocks may have scored a couple more baskets, but Hayes came up with a big block that prevented any more immediate damage. With 1:16 left in the game the score was 32-30 as Lincoln clung to the lead. Trey Schilling added a little late game insurance with a basket on the assist from Gowin, 34-30 now the score. With 3.9 seconds left Hayes was 1-for-2 from the free throw line and the 35-30 win was preserved.

It was not the greatest shooting night for the Railers but the comeback was nonetheless exciting in front of a large crowd and the Railers improved to 16-4 on the season.

Aidan Gowin and Drew Hayes each led Lincoln with 9 points.

KJ Lamonte led Rock Island with 10 points.

Sophomore Drew Hayes has a fantastic reaction during the game with Rock Island and it was captured by Cindy Bivin. Hayes poured in 7 of his 9 points in the fourth quarter, leading the Railers to a 35-30 comeback victory.

The JV team lost to Rock Island by a final score of 53-45. Brady Miller led Lincoln with 12 points. Darren Stevens led the Railers with 11 points.

Lincoln will play at Normal West on Tuesday night. The JV game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. The Varsity game will start at 7:30 p.m.

Varsity scoring

Lincoln 35
Gowin 9
Hayes 9
Nelson 6
Cook 3
Schilling 2
Carson 2
Sasse 2
Bivin 2

Rock Island 30
Lamonte 10
Cartwright 9
McQueen Jr. 6
Akers 3
Figgs 2

JV scoring

Lincoln 45
Miller 12
Stevens 11
Smith 8
Hayes 6
Sanders 4
Horn 4

Rock Island 53
Duarte 19
Zulu 8
Awour 7
Rayford 6
Goeh 5
Davis 2

[Teena Lowery]