LLCC - 70
Rend Lake Community College - 75

The Lincoln Land Loggers men's basketball team got their first tough test of the year and were unable to overcome it falling to Region foe Rend Lake 75-70. 

Lincoln Land knew going in to the year they were going to be undersized and today was the first time they ran into that as they were outsized at nearly every position. Early on that worked to the Loggers' advantage as they were getting open looks, unfortunately Lincoln Land shot 19% (3 for 16) from the three point arch in the first half and were unable to capitalize on those chances. The Loggers were, however, able to get points off of free throws as it was a foul fest in both halves. Lincoln Land did take care of the ball in the first half limiting their turnovers and, despite their size, the Loggers were only being out-rebounded by 3 at half. At the halfway point Lincoln Land held a 39-33 lead. 

At the start of the half Lincoln Land built on that lead and led by as many as 9 early. However, the Warriors of Rend Lake went on a 13-3 run and suddenly Lincoln Land found themselves trailing for the first time since the halfway point of the first half. Rend Lake built on that lead, thanks to some hot shooting, and pulled out to an 11 point lead. Lincoln Land didn't give up and came storming back to cut it to a 3 point deficit at 66-63 with just under 3:00 left in the game. That was as close as Lincoln Land would get as Rend Lake scored on the next three possessions as the Logger's attempts went wide. Lincoln Land eventually fell 75-70. Rend Lake was able to take the game partially because of the fact that they out-rebounded the Loggers by 9 in the second half, many of those were offensive, which led to second chance points for Rend Lake. 

"I felt like we did not play smart enough to win tonight. We didn't play particularly well either, but we made some very foolish errors way too often this evening. While not playing our greatest we were still right there with one of the best teams in our Region. That proved the potential is there. We have to make better decisions and we have to make more shots to have a chance," reflected a disappointed Head Coach Chad Jones following the loss.

Lincoln Land was led by Sophomore Alex Portwood who had a team high 15 points and 7 rebounds. Freshman D'Aaron Owens put in a career high 15. Harold Robertson added 12 as the only other Logger in double digits. Lincoln Land ended the game shooting a lowly 28%(15-54) from the field and 25% from behind the arc (8-32) and were out-rebound 47-34 including 17 total offensive rebounds. 

Lincoln Land falls to 2-1 on the year. They get their next shot Saturday when they travel to North Central Missouri College.