LLCC - 59
ICC - 64
 
Lincoln Land remained home to continue conference play and fell to the Illinois Central College Cougars 64-59.
 
Tonight's game was a back and forth affair that featured 12 ties and 11 lead changes. Late in the first half Illinois Central was on the verge of taking over the game. The Cougars held a 9 point lead, but the Loggers scored the last 6 points of the half and cut the lead to 29-26 at half.
 
In the second half, neither team was able to pull away by more than 4 points for most of the half.   Lincoln Land had opportunities, but turnovers doomed the Loggers. At critical times the Loggers turned the ball over and the Cougars were able to capitalize. In a one point game Lincoln Land had an errant pass for a back court violation and a forced pass on the next possession led to another. With :30 left Lincoln Land got an open three to tie the game, but the shot went wide. The last closing moments, ballooned the lead out with free throws by ICC. The Loggers were never able to close the gap and fell 64-59.
 
"We made strides tonight. We haven't been playing well, and tonight we started putting it together. We had chances near the end, but we have to make those plays and get defensive stops if we want to win in this conference," said Coach Chad Jones. "Tonight we just didn't make the two or three plays we needed." 
 
The stat that cost Lincoln Land much was the 18 turnovers. The Loggers out rebounded and outshot ICC from the floor. The Cougars held the edge shooting from behind the arc and at the charity stripe. LLCC was led in scoring by Freshman Eddie Longmeyer who had a game high 16 points. Sophomore Payton Dugan added 10 and freshman Dino Mehmedovic joined those two in double digits with 10. Mehmedovic pulled down a game high 7 boards and Sophomore Michael Cameron dished out 5 assists.
 
Lincoln land remains at home to take on ranked and conference foe Parkland Wednesday evening.