Lincoln Land - 71

Illinois Wesleyan JV - 59

Despite a strong and promising start, the Loggers men's basketball team stumbled down the finish and fell, for the second time this year, to the Illinois Wesleyan JV, 71-59. 

Effort has not been the issue for the Loggers, and tonight was no exception to that. Lincoln Land rode 12 early points from sophomore Nic Hagel in the first 14:00 of the game. The Loggers held a 26-11 advantage with less than 6:00 before the half. Illinois Wesleyan closed strong on a 13-4 run and Lincoln Land went in to the half still holding a 30-24 advantage.  

Lincoln Land never had a lead of more than that 6 the rest of the way. After a made 3 pointer by Illinois Wesleyan, the Loggers found themselves trailing for the first time since early in the game at 35-33. The game saw each team trade a few buckets and the teams were knotted up at 51 with 9:00 to go in the game. 

Illinois Wesleyan used that point to go push a Titan advantage out to 7, LLCC was able to fight back to within 2 on multiple occasions, but never got closer that 59-57 with 4:00 to go. Wesleyan closed on a 13-2 run to push their advantage out to a game high 12 in the closing minutes. 

Neither team shot particularly well on the night, but Wesleyan put themselves ahead by making 13 threes to Lincoln Land's 8. The other Wesleyan advantage came when the Titans went 16 for 25 from the free throw line while the Loggers went 3 for 6 from the charity stripe. 

Lincoln Land got a game high 20 from Hagel, who also pulled in 6 rebounds. Freshman Mitch Hardiek had a team high 7 boards, and sophomore Logan Clayton got in double digits with 10 points, while also getting 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Freshman Jordan Brooks led the team with 5 assists. 

Lincoln Land falls to 0-7 on the year. They remain home to take on Region 24 opponent Rend Lake on Monday, who the Loggers played tough earlier in the year, but fell to 85-61.