The Lincoln Land men's basketball team hosted Illinois Central College on Saturday in their annual Homecoming game and sent the crowd home with a Logger victory as LLCC was victorious 75-70.
In a toughly fought contest, the Loggers were finally able to put together an entire game of effort. The game featured 13 lead changes and was played within a 14 point spread as neither team held a lead of more than 7 the entire game.
Offensive rebounding definitely benefits the Cougars of ICC in the first half. They pulled in 10 offensive rebounds to the Loggers 8 defensive. Another problem that plagued the Loggers in the first half was turnovers, most of which were unforced. The Loggers gave the ball away 12 times in the first half which allowed ICC 24 points off those turnovers. The Loggers have also struggled from behind the arc this season, but came out and shot 5 of 11 in the first half to help propel them to a 38-35 lead going in to the half.
The second half has not gone well for the Loggers for much of the year when they have been in close games. 4-10 point advantages have ballooned out to large leads very quickly, but Lincoln Land dug in and played with toughness and never let the ICC leads of the second half get to be more than 3. The Logger only shot 1 three in the second half and what that resulted in was LLCC drives to the basket and in many occasions forcing Cougar fouls which allowed the Loggers to stay in the game. The game was tied with just under 2:00 remaining, but Lincoln Land converted on their next two possession and took a 4 point lead and forced ICC into fouling. After making 1 of 2, the Logger lead was at 5, its highest in the game. ICC did get a meaningless basket at the end of the game, but LLCC closed that game on a 7-2 run in the last 2:00.
Statistically the Loggers were on the short end of nearly every category, but the one that propelled Lincoln Land was their free throw advantage. Although they only shot 72% from the line, Lincoln Land knocked in 9 extra free throws than ICC. Sophomore Jake Pennell paced the way for the Loggers with a team high 21, 16 of which were in the second half. Sophomore Nic Hagel, had his best game in recent history still coming back from a knee injury by adding 11 points in the game. Sophomore point guard Logan Clayton also chipped in 11. Sophomore DJ Doolin ended in double digits with rebounds as he pulled in 10, while also dishing out 3 assists, and his energy helped fuel the Logger charge.
This was the Loggers first Mid West Athletic Conference victory of the season, and they improve to 4-19 on the season, and 1-3 in MWAC play.
