The Lincoln Land Logger men's basketball team is moving to the semi-finals of the NJCAA Region 24 Championship after defeating John Wood 68-62.

The Lincoln Land Loggers began the night with some history, hosting their first ever NJCAA Region 24 game as the higher seed. The night ended in the first region tournament victory for Lincoln Land since 2012. The Loggers came into the Tuesday evening contest having beat John Wood both times previously in their match ups this season. As the old adage goes, it is hard to beat a team three times in a season and John Wood gave their best effort all evening. Neither team was able to establish much of a lead in the first half as neither team lead by more than 4 in that first half. The game came down to the second half. 

With the score tied at 41 with 11:00 to go, the game took multiple drastic sways of momentum. The Loggers got three straight scores and found themselves up by their game high of 6 points with just over 8:00 to play. John Wood was able to stop the run and keep the game as close as that 6 points and eventually found themselves down just 2 when they rattled off a 6-0 run of their own to lead 54-50. Right before the last media timeout, Nate Moore hit and enormous three pointer to cut the lead back to 1 before John Wood knocked in a free throw. Coming out of the media timeout, John Wood got a huge and-one bucket to get to a 58-53 advantage, their highest of the game. After struggling from the field for much of the game, Moore woke up at the right time knocking in another three pointer to get the game back to a one-score contest. John Wood proceeded to go 1 for 2 from the line and lead by 2 with just over 2:00 to play. That was when the Loggers pounced with their decisive blow. One back-to-back possession Keshaun Harlan and Moore got free throws and made both to give Lincoln Land what would be their final lead. After a defensive stop, Moore again put 2 free throws in followed by what would prove the decisive bucket, an and-one bucket and free throw from Harlan with just :47 to play and allowing the Loggers a 6-point cushion. John Wood was able to get a three-point bucket on the next possession to get the game right back to one possession. However, it was late enough in the game that John Wood was forced to foul. Harlan put in 3 of 4 free throws and the Loggers closed the evening on a 15-4 run and a final 12-3 stretch to give them the 68-62 win. 

Lincoln Land found themselves to victory all though John Wood shot better from the floor and outrebound LLCC by 7. The Loggers advantage came in turning the ball over 6 less times and ultimately is to the line for 10 more attempts, the final difference. 

Keshaun Harlan got to a game high 23 points including the last 6 Logger points and 8 of the last 12 points on the evening. Harlan surpassed the 20-point total for the 8^th time this season and tied his second best scoring game with that final 23. Jaylen Lockhart was the only other start to get to double digits finishing with 10. Nate Moore came off the bench and ended with 14 points including 10 points in the final 4:00 of the game. Gus McCrary impacted the game off the bench with a team high 9 rebounds and 4 steals. 

Lincoln Land moves on to the semi-final against top seeded and host Danville Area Community College on Friday afternoon at 3:00 PM.