Slow start dooms Railers against SH-G as Cyclones beat Lincoln 45-39

 

[February 07, 2024]  LINCOLN – If a book was to be written about the last two Lincoln Railsplitter basketball games, an apt title might be One Bad Quarter.

On February 3, the Railsplitters held a 15-point lead over Lanphier only to have the Lions outscore Lincoln 16-0 in the third quarter to take a lead before the Railers overtook Lanphier and won 46-43.

On Tuesday, Sacred Heart-Griffin sprinted out to a 16-3 lead after the opening quarter and held on to beat the Railers 45-39.

If there is a silver lining to the Lincoln loss, it is that this game did not count in the Central State 8 standings, as only the first matchup of the season counts toward the league record for teams that face each other multiple times.

That keeps the Railers’ CS8 record at 8-1 heading into a home game this Friday, Feb. 9 against conference leader Decatur Macarthur, which holds an unblemished 9-0 league mark. Lincoln can win a share of the conference title with a victory over the Generals in the 7 PM contest.

For the Railers to have a chance against Macarthur on Friday, Lincoln head coach Neil Alexander said his squad cannot afford to get out to another slow start.

Coach Neil Alexander

“You’ve got to come to play, and we didn’t have a lot of pop in our legs,” Alexander said. “They [Sacred Heart-Griffin] were a couple steps quicker than we were. They’ve got some skills, but I don’t think our guys respect them because they were so young, but they can play.”

While Lincoln dug itself into a whole by falling behind 16-3 after the opening period, the Railers actually outscored Sacred Heart-Griffin in the remaining three quarters, 36-29. However, Lincoln never held a lead in the game and the Railers could get no closer than two points (30-28 with 2:11 left in the third quarter).

One major disparity in the game is Lincoln only shot 6 free throws in the entire game while SH-G was 11 of 14 from the charity stripe for the night.

“We would get close and then we would do some silly things,” Alexander said. “I think we got it to within two and then we fouled them twice and gave them four free throws. Hopefully it’s a lesson learned and I guess now is the time to learn the lesson.

“We’ve got to come out and perform better. You don’t dig yourself a hole 13-2 and expect to have an easy night of it.”

While the improved offensive output in the final three stanzas helped draw the Railers closer, Alexander added that the SH-G win of the 2022 IHSA Class 3A boys basketball championship helped give the Cyclones a winning mentality.

“When you have a state-caliber team like they had two years ago, the mentality is still there,” he said. “You play hard, you know what it’s like, and at times tonight, I don’t think we played very hard.”

Brady Miller

There were a few bright spots for the Railers. Reserve Brady Miller hit a pair of 3-pointers on consecutive scores for the Railers to keep the Railers within 11. The 5-foot-9 junior also grabbed a couple defensive rebounds in the period for Lincoln. The Railers also got 3-pointers from Drew Hayes and Aidan Gowin in the quarter and cut the SH-G lead to 25-18 at halftime.

Lincoln trailed 30-22 midway through the third quarter before Gabe Smith and Hayes hit 3-pointers for the Railers on consecutive possessions to pull Lincoln to 30-28. SH-G got a field goal from Chucky Lanier and a pair of free throws each from Ethan Jocelyn and Bryce Musgrave. Gowin hit a trey at the buzzer to end the quarter and the Cyclone lead was 36-31.

Trey Schilling scored 5 consecutive points for Lincoln to pull the Railers closer at 42-39 with 49 seconds left, but the Cyclones went 3 of 4 from the free throw line in the remainder of the game and outscored Lincoln 9-8 in the quarter for its final margin of victory.

Sacred Heart-Griffin also went 3 of 3 from the field in the final period.

Drew Hayes

Hayes led Lincoln with 14 points while grabbing 5 rebounds, dishing out 5 assists and registering 3 blocks. Gowin added 9 points and Miller chipped in 6 for the Railers, which fell to 20-8 with the loss.

Sacred Heart-Griffin improved to 10-16 with the victory. The Cyclones were led in scoring by Lanier, Zion Lee and Cam Bankman with 11 points apiece. Musgrave added 8 for SH-G

Lincoln’s next contest is a Friday, Feb. 9 conference game at home against league-leading Decatur Macarthur. Tipoff for the varsity game is slated for 7 PM; the junior varsity contest begins at 5:30 PM.

[Loyd Kirby]