The Lincoln Land Loggers men's basketball team has a two game win streak thanks to a Tuesday evening 66-65 overtime victory over the Eagles of Illinois Valley Community College.
Lincoln Land came out scorching hot as AJ Tillman got the first bucket of the game and Camden Nelson proceeded to hit three threes. The Loggers started the game on a 13-0 run, forcing an Eagles timeout before IVCC got their first point, nearly 4 minutes in to the game. Nelson and Tillman got the next two buckets and after another Logger score and nearly 8:00 had elapsed Lincoln Land led by a game high 20 at 24-4.
Illinois Valley became the hotter team for the next 6:00 minutes of game play as they went on a 15-2 run to get themselves right back into the contest getting within 5. Over the final minutes of the first half the Loggers got their lead back to double digits before the Eagles were able to close on a small run before the buzzer. At half the Loggers held a 33-26 advantage.
During the second the Loggers got back up by double digits, the Eagles cut it to 4, but the Loggers responded again by getting it to double digits. This played out twice over the first chunk of the second frame. With under 6:00 minutes to play a Stephan Braun three gave the Loggers another 11 point lead and a win was looking more probable. However, Lincoln Land hit a cold scoring spell and would only score 5 more points before end of regulation. Gus McCrary hit a three with 3:50 to play that again gave the Loggers an 11 point advantage. Illinois Valley just chipped away and the Loggers failed to make another field goal over the final 4:00. At 3:00 the lead was 8, at 2:00 it was down to 5 at 1:00 it was 4. At the :39 mark Camden Nelson knocked in two free throws to give the Loggers a 58-54 lead. The Eagles scored on the next possession and Lincoln Land missed two free throws which gave IVCC the ball with :12 to play trailing by 2. The Eagles were able to score on a layup and a last second half-court heave did not fall for LLCC and for the first time since 0-0 the game was tied.
In the extra frame Lincoln Land immediately faced their first deficit of the evening as the Eagles scored on each of their first four possessions of overtime and lead 64-59 with 2:30 to go. Leading scorer Camden Nelson hit a three pointer that may have jump started the Loggers back to a chance to win. Kendall Lavender on the next possession tied the game at 64 with 2:00 to go. Illinois Valley was fouled and knocked in 1 of 2 free throws, that proved pivotal. The two teams traded turnovers and Lincoln Land called a timeout with the ball down 1 and :19 to play. The Loggers executed a play but saw no open looks. Kendall Lavender got the ball in his hands in the corner as the clock was winding down. Lavender worked his way to the middle and made a short jump over a defender that bounced around and in to give Lincoln Land the 66-65 lead with :02 to play. IVCC was unable to get a shot off and the Loggers survived to win 66-65.
Nelson ended the game with 6 three pointers and a team, season, and career high 22 points. AJ Tillman was only other Loggers to eclipse 10 points, ending with 11. Michael Tyler ended the evening 11 rebounds a game high and ended with 6 points.
Many stats told a different story than the final score. The Loggers were out-rebounded by 6, committed 6 more turnovers which gave IVCC 13 more field goal attempts and 6 more free throws on the game. The dividing stat was the three point line, where them loggers went 9/22 (41%) to the Eagles 3/26 (12%). However, the Loggers scrapped their way to the victory.
Lincoln Land improves to 2-10 on the season. The Loggers close out first semester on the road Friday evening against Black Hawk College in Moline.
