Cold Lincoln shooting, stifling Mt. Zion defense result in 39-25 loss for Railers

 

[November 24, 2023]  Lincoln – For the first time ever, Roy S. Anderson Gymnasium at Lincoln Community High School is equipped with a shot clock. Since last season, the IHSA has allowed use of a shot clock in basketball games played in a shootout or as part of a tournament.

One of the rationales for utilizing a shot clock was that its use would result in more scoring and higher offensive outputs by teams.

On Wednesday night, it appeared that the teams from Mt. Zion and Lincoln didn’t get the memo.

Marred by cold shooting and a stiffer defense than they faced in their tournament-opening game against Cahokia on Monday, the Railers only mustered 25 points against Mt. Zion. Lincoln’s record fell to 1-1 with the 39-25 loss to the Braves.

“It was a whole lot different than Monday night,” Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said, referencing his team’s hot shooting in its 68-30 tournament-opening win over Cahokia. “They [Mt. Zion] were not going to let that happen. They move very well.”

Lincoln jumped out to a 7-2 lead after one quarter, as the teams played the first six minutes of the game tied 2-2. The teams exchanged leads a few times in the second quarter, with Mt. Zion leading by three as time wound down in first half. The Braves rebounded a missed Lincoln shot with 24 seconds remaining and appeared poised to take the last shot of the half. Mt. Zion worked the ball inside, but a contested layup by J.C. Anderson rolled off the rim. Lincoln’s Drew Hayes grabbed the rebound with seven seconds left and pushed the ball up the court. He hit Gabe Smith with the ball at the free throw line, who drove down the lane and put up an errant shot. Hayes, however, continued to hustle on the play, getting in position to grab the rebound and hit the put-back shot just before the buzzer. The play ignited the hometown crowd and pulled the Railers to within a point at 14-13 as the first half concluded.

Fortunately for Lincoln, Mt. Zion only hit six of its 26 first half field goal attempts for 23.1 percent. Unfortunately, the Railers did not fare much better, hitting just 23.8 percent in the first half, making five of 21 attempts. As cold as that shooting performance was, it cooled off even more to start the second half. Mt. Zion reeled off the first six points of the half until Aidan Gowin scored on a layup with 3:45 left in the third quarter to make the score 20-13.

The Railers outscored Mt. Zion 7-5 in the rest of the stanza to head into the fourth quarter down 25-20.

The Braves used an effective mix of defenses, including a zone defense that kept the Lincoln shooters from getting comfortable all night. Highlighted by some long-range shooting by Lyncoln Koester, Mt. Zion outscored the Railers 14-5 in the final quarter to win 39-25.

“I thought our kids, for three quarters, played right with them,” Alexander said. “Once you got behind on them, they’re skilled enough that they can force you to come out and do some things. We left some threes open and they converted.”

Alexander said that, after their easy win over Cahokia on Monday, facing Mt. Zion was a good barometer for the Railers to assess all facets of their game, including their offense.

“That’s [Mt. Zion’s] a good defensive team, and that’s why we shot the way we did,” he said. “Cahokia struggled defensively, and that’s why we shot the ball. If people leave us alone, we’re going to hit shots. But nobody’s going to let Lincoln stand and shoot. That’s why we’ve tried to develop an offense that has motion to where we can dribble-drive a little bit, where we can back door, but that was a fundamentally sound basketball team.

Hayes was the only player in double figures for Lincoln, scoring 10 points. Trey Schilling added eight.

Mt. Zion was led by Anderson with 14 points while Koester contributed 11.

In the other game played Wednesday, Belleville West beat Danville 82-66.

Tuesday results in the tournament were:
• Belleville West 74, Mahomet-Seymour 45
• Champaign Centennial 70, Danville 63
• Belleville Althoff 68, Cahokia 36

The loss dropped Lincoln’s record to 1-1 while Mt. Zion improved to 2-0. Both teams compete in the green pool for the Eaton Electrical Round Robin Tournament. Standings in the green pool are:
• Mt. Zion 2-0
• Lincoln 1-1
• Belleville Althoff 1-1
• Cahokia 0-2

Red pool standings are:
• Champaign Centennial 2-0
• Belleville West 2-0
• Danville 0-2
• Mahomet-Seymour 0-2

The Friday, November 24 schedule of games includes:
• 3:00 PM - Cahokia vs. Mt. Zion
• 4:45 PM - Mahomet-Seymour vs. Danville
• 6:30 PM - Belleville West vs. Champaign Centennial
• 8:15 PM - Lincoln vs. Belleville Althoff

Final games of the tournament will be played Saturday, November 25 at the following times:
• 3 PM – 7th place game
• 4:45 PM – 5th place game
• 6:30 PM – 3rd place game
• 8:15 PM – Championship game

[Loyd Kirby]

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