The Lincoln Land Loggers opened MWAC play with a 69-68 win over rival Lincoln College on Saturday at Cass Gym. 

The game started slowly for LLCC with the Loggers only connecting on 6 first half field goals.  The Loggers trailed 38-23 at half.  The second half was a different story as the Loggers opened the half scoring on five strait possessions to cut the lead to 6.  Lincoln then went to a zone that opened the flood gates for the Logger shooters.  Lincoln Land took its first lead with just over five minutes to go in the game.  In the last 5 minutes there were 8 lead changes and 3 ties.  Lincoln hit a go ahead free throw with 13.1 seconds to go that put them up one.   The Loggers got Alex Portwood a game winning three that went off the back iron.  LLCC then fouled Lincoln with 2.3 seconds.  Lincoln was not in the bonus so all they had to do was inbound the ball and the game was over.  The Logger defense came through forcing a five second call that allowed LLCC's Alex Portwood to get fouled with 1.3 seconds left in the game.  Portwood hit both free throws to give the Loggers a 1 point lead.  Lincoln didn't get a shot of and the Loggers escaped. 
 
"This was a fun game to coach in the second half.  I'm proud of the effort the guys gave,"  said coach Chad Jones.