LLCC – 74
John Wood Community College - 67
 
The Lincoln Land men's basketball team took over sole possession of first place in the Mid-West Athletic Conference with a 74-67 victory over the visiting Trailblazers of John Wood Community College.
 
"This is a huge win for us," commented head coach Chad Jones. "We are halfway through conference and sitting at 4-1 in first place. I am proud of our effort tonight and we continue to come out victorious in these close games. That is a testament to our guys. However, we have a bullseye on our back because of that and that comes with brand new challenges. Hopefully we can keep our determination going."
 
The Loggers raced out to a 13-0 lead, but quickly gave it right back to the Blazers who went on an 18-2 run to put the Loggers down 18-15 ten minutes in. Lincoln Land struggled to score for a long stretch and found themselves down by 10 points, where they've been in most conference games. Back to back steals and dunks in the final minute of the half by sophomore Eddie Longmeyer and freshman Sam Kaufman cut the Loggers deficit to 6 points at the conclusion of the half, 35-29. Lincoln Land has gone in to all four of the previous conference games down 3 at the half, so trailing was not a large concern for the Loggers.
 
John Wood pushed their lead out in the early moments of the second half as high as 8 on three separate occasions. With just under twelve minutes remaining in the game the Blazers held a 52-44 advantage. Lincoln Land rattled off 10 straight points to take a 2 point lead. For the next few minutes the teams traded buckets until Lincoln Land was able to convert on 6 straight free throws to take the lead with 4:31 left. John Wood was able to hang around and a three point bucket tied the game at 65 with 2:07 left. Back to back buckets by sophomores Eddie Longmeyer and Shaquille Edwards gave Lincoln Land their final lead of the game. From there the Blazers only converted two free throws on their final 7 possessions. Lincoln Land scored on 8 of their final 10 possessions to secure victory. This was the second game in a row that Lincoln Land closed drastically stronger than their opponent. This helped them pull away to the 74-67 final.
 
Sophomore Eddie Longmeyer lead all scorers with 30 points, 21 of which were in the second half. Longmeyer also had a team high 8 rebounds and added 3 assists and 3 steals. No other Logger scored in double digits, although every Logger who played scored.
 
Lincoln Land is now 15-9 on the year, leading the conference with a 4-1 record. They will remain at home and take on MacMurray College's JV on Monday in their last non-conference game of the season.