The Lincoln Land men's basketball team travelled to Canton to take on the Spoon River College Snappers in their second go around through Mid West Athletic Conference and stood strong in overtime to sneak out with a 81-76 win.
Lincoln Land raced out of the starting gates and commanded an early lead, shooting right out to a double digit lead and lead by 11 at 19-8. Nick Cook was the go-to man early going 4/4 with 8 points, three of those buckets were right at the start of the game. Following a timeout, the Snappers rattled off 16 points to LLCC's 3 and took the lead for the first time on the afternoon with about 8:00 to go in the half. The Loggers snatched some momentum back in the final 4:00. With the score tied at 30, Lincoln Land closed 9-4 to go in the break with the lead and the momentum.
Lincoln Land established control for much of the second half. Slowly the Loggers began to pull away from the start. Halfway through the second half Lincoln Land had their highest lead of the day when two free throws put them up 13 at 61-48. Much like the first half, when the Loggers got their lead, Spoon River responded this time with a 13-3 run to make it a one possession game with just over 1:00 remaining. The last minute Spoon River refused to got away. The Loggers were unable to score on the next possession and a Spoon River score got it to 1 point with :21 left. After two Logger free throws with :11 remaining Spoon took possession down 3. The Snappers ran a dribble hand off and got an open look for three which they put in to tie the game with :02.4 left. Each team ended up with an opportunity to win the game in that last :02.4 but both inbounds ended in turnovers and the game went to overtime.
Spoon River scored on their first possession of the extra frame and Lincoln Land found themselves down for the first time since over 5:00 remaining in the first half. The teams each scored on their first two possessions until Lincoln Land got the first defensive stop of the overtime and took a 74-72 lead after Cook knocked in two free throws. Spoon River tied the game back up at 74 and both teams traded buckets and the game remained tied. Lincoln Land got a defensive stop with just over 1:00 to play. On the following possession Camren Kincaid got fouled on a drive and stepped to the line and made both free throws to give the Loggers what would be their final lead. On the next Snappers possession the Loggers committed a foul that sent SRC to the line with a chance to tie the game. Unlike Kincaid, the moment proved big for the Spoon River shooter who missed both shots and Jermontre Young ended in possession of the ball and got fouled to send LLCC back to the line. Young knocked both in and Lincoln Land went up 4 at 80-76. Another Snappers miss and one of two free throws for Lincoln Land led to the final Spoon River possession where they turned the ball over on the inbound and the Loggers dribbled out the clock to survive with a 81-76 victory.
Cook, Kincaid, and Kyle Leonard came into the contest as the three leading scorers on the season for the Loggers and today they ended as the three Loggers in double digits. Cook upped his career high for the second time in two weeks, tonight he ended with a team and career high 18. Leonard ended with 17 and Kincaid added 12. Kincaid also ended with a team high 8 boards and a game high 5 assists. The stat that won the Loggers the game was going 21/25 from the line on the afternoon when they needed every make!
Lincoln Land fights back to .500 and are now 4-3 in the MWAC and 5-3 in Region 24 play. The Loggers will head back to Springfield for a three game home stand starting with Lewis and Clark Community college on Wednesday night at 7:30 PM.
