LLCC - 85
Danville Area Community College - 80

The Lincoln Land Loggers men's basketball team came into this afternoon's matchup with the Jaguars of Danville Area Community College with one conference win on the season. That win came at the hands of DACC earlier this season. Tonight Lincoln Land got their second conference win and second against DACC this season by coming away victorious in overtime, 85-80. 

The Loggers continued their tradition of slow starts, as in the first half tonight Lincoln Land found themselves down by as many as 14 at 26-12. Lincoln Land ended the half on a 19-7 run and were able to get as close as 1 point before trailing the Jaguars 35-31 at halftime. 
 

The second half began with Logger defensive stops, but they were unable to capitalize on those stops and neither team was able to score for the first handful of possessions in the second half. Danville found their stride before the Loggers did and were up 8 and had possession of the ball about 6:00 in to the half. a defensive stop sparked a small Logger run and Sophomore Ryan Below hit a pair of free throws to give the Loggers their first lead of the game at 48-47. From that point until the end of regulation there were 8 ties and 7 lead changes as it remained close. Lincoln Land had not shot the ball particularly well in the game especially from three until the final 10 minutes of the game. The Loggers knocked in 5 threes during the stretch, two by freshman Trace Gentry and three by Alex Portwood. The Loggers felt particularly confident as they held a 6 point lead with 4:24 left. Unfortunately, that lead was not secure and DACC made two free throws with 14 seconds left to tie the game. A late shot by the Loggers went wide and regulation came to a close ties at 66. This was the first overtime game of the year for Lincoln Land. 

Lincoln Land found themselves in a small deficit as they were able to score on only one possession of their first four in OT and DACC converted on all four of theirs and held a 73-70 lead. In what could easily be the play of the night, Lincoln Land on their next possession found themselves in a lot of trouble as the shot clock was winding down and had no clear shots at the basket. Sophomore Alex Portwood found himself with the ball well behind the three point line and tightly guarded as the clock was set to expire. A near desperation heave by Portwood went in and tied the game back up at 73. Lincoln Land used that as a starting block and were able to convert on their last 8 possession of the game which allowed them to score an impressive 19 during the 5 minute overtime period. The Loggers made their free throws and got enough stops to come away victorious in the end with the final score of 85-80. 

A few Loggers finally had breakout games, sophomore Alex Portwood had been in a bit of a scoring and shooting slump as of late, but tonight was able to knock in 6 threes on his way to a game high 24 points. Freshman Jerrid Cosby had the best scoring effort of his career by adding 21. Both Portwood and Cosby also brought in a game high 8 rebounds a piece. Portwood did this in a game high 39 minutes. Freshman Trace Gentry ended just short of a season and career high with 16. Sophomore Harold Robertson added 10. 

Lincoln Land improves to 15-11 on the year and 2-6 in Mid West Athletic Conference play. They will look to continue their winning ways against Lincoln College Wednesday night at home in Cass Gymnasium.