The Lincoln Land men's basketball team kicked off the year in as exciting fashion as it could with a 66-64 victory over Moraine Valley Community College!

The Loggers went into the last :30 of the contest trailing 63-64, but a bucket by sophomore Michael Ousley III allowed the Loggers to take the final lead of the evening with :12 to go. Moraine got a good look at a basket, but the Loggers got a stop and rebound that gave them two free throws with :03 to go. Although both shots went wide, LLCC again was able to get a stop to give them the victory.

Although the Loggers trailed most of the first half, they never trailed by more than 4 and were able to build a lead of their own by as many as 10. Moraine was able to close the half on a strong run to cut the game to a 33-27 contest. Moraine came out of the half the team with more energy and was able to recapture the lead for the first time in twenty minutes of game play. LLCC's weak spot was rebounding where Moraine was able to pull down 20 offensive rebounds on the night, which helped keep them in the contest. Moraine actually held their largest lead of the game with 6:30 to go when they had an 8 point advantage. The Loggers refused to let that be the end of the story for the game. Ousley came alive and scored 7 points over that final 5:00 stretch. Closing into that final minute the two teams swapped leads three times until the Loggers were able to push ahead. 

Ousley led all scorer with 19 on the night, while also pulling down 7 rebounds including two late important offensive boards. The Loggers only played seven players on the evening and five of them made it in double digits. Joining Ousley were Dane Foster with 11, Axel Laby and Kyle Leonard with 10 a piece, and freshman Camren Kincaid started his college career with a double-double with 12 points and a game high 11 rebounds. 

Lincoln Land starts the year with a bang to get to 1-0. Their next contest will be on the road against St. Louis Community College on Wednesday, November 9th. 

Box score: https://www.njcaa.org/sports/mbkb/2022-23/div2/boxscores/20221103_09hb.xml?view=boxscore