LYNX DEFEAT LEWIS AND CLARK IN DOUBLE OVERTIME

Monday night’s much hyped men’s basketball match up between Lincoln College and Lewis and Clark Community College was one of those games that, if it were a movie script, Hollywood would have turned it down for being simply too good to be true.

A nearly missed buzzer beater at the end of regulation, some clutch free throws, and two overtimes later, the Lynx came out on top, 97-91 in a game that was hardly meant for the faint of heart. The win improved Lincoln to 15-4 on the season and 6-1 in conference play.

“I don’t know if it was the best game I’ve ever been involved in, because it was just a regular season game,” said Lynx coach BJ McCullum, “but, it was a heck of a lot of fun to be a part of, that’s for sure.”

“This was definitely the best game I’ve been apart of since I’ve been at Lincoln College,” said freshman guard and LCHS graduate David Pickering. “It was just two really good teams, and we were able to win in two overtimes- it really doesn’t get much better than that.”

With the game tied at 73, Lewis and Clark (14-5, 5-2) put the ball in the hands of freshman guard Eric Gilchrese in the waning seconds of regulation. As Gilchrese drove to the hoop- something the Springfield Lanphier graduate did with relative ease throughout the night- he was stripped by LC guard Shelden Evans, who called a timeout with 3.2 seconds remaining. The Lynx quickly in-bounded the ball just short of half court, and called their final timeout with 2.2 seconds remaining.

The Lynx had the ball out of bounds from just beyond half court. The crowd at Davidson-Sheffer Gymnasium collectively held their breath as sophomore Kyle Jacobs found himself the recipient of an alley-oop pass from fellow sophomore Jake Littrel. Jacobs jumped, caught the ball near the rim, and managed to get off a contested lay up- that would roll just off the rim’s right side to send the game into overtime.

“That’s a really tough play to make,” said Pickering. “Just catching the ball on that pass is hard. Kyle got up there pretty high. He did everything but make it.”

In the first overtime, LC was able to take a four-point lead on two free throws from freshman forward Rob Rabenau that made the score 81-77 with 2:09 remaining. The Trail Blazers wouldn’t go away quietly however, scoring the game’s next six points to take a 81-83 lead with 9.8 seconds left.

With the game on the line, the Lynx turned to freshman PJ Keaton, who was defended by Gilchrese. Keaton used a strong crossover dribble to gain a step on Gilchrese, driving to his left, down the lane. The lanky guard pulled up to shoot a jump shot from 15 feet, but was fouled when Gilchrese lunged to block the shot, sending Keaton to the line for two shots with 2.7 seconds on the clock.

Keaton toed the line, and swished the first free throw to pull his team within one. Keaton’s second free throw would teeter gently on the outside of the rim before rolling in to send the game into a second overtime.

With the game tied at 86, a Littrel put back with 1:52 remaining would give the Lynx an 88-86 advantage. After getting a stop on the defensive end, the Lynx extended the lead to four points on a Pickering pull-up jumper to make the score 90-86 with 1:09 remaining. A free throw from Lewis and Clark freshman Andre Taylor cut the lead to three with 58.7 seconds to go, 90-87. The Lynx responded when Jacobs found Pickering in transition for an uncontested lay-up, followed by two Pickering free throws that gave the Lynx a commanding 94-88 advantage with 27.3 seconds remaining.

Several Lynx had strong statistical performances. Keaton finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, followed by Jacobs with 19 points, nine rebounds, and six steals. Littrel had 17 points and seven rebounds for the Lynx, followed by 14 points from fellow sophomore Shawn Bridgewater. Rabenau finished with 11 points, while Pickering contributed a solid all-around game, scoring 11 points- all in the second half and overtime, to go with 9 assists, and 5 rebounds.

Asked to assess his team’s balanced scoring attack, McCullum pointed to an increased emphasis on passing in his starting lineup- particularly the addition of Pickering.

“After (losing to Parkland College on) Saturday, where I didn’t think we took the best shots, I really thought passing the basketball would be important tonight,” said McCullum. “We hadn’t been setting up our teammates as well as I would have liked, so I put David back in the starting lineup for us.

“David is the best passer we have, really. I thought the biggest key for us tonight was, even though he hasn’t shot the ball well the past couple games, David kept his head up and played hard, went to the basket, and did other things to set up his teammates- 9 assists even seems a little low. He took a big charge for us, and grabbed some big rebounds in crunch time.

“Tonight, he was more than just a shooter- he was a darn good basketball player.”

Pickering finished the game 1-8 from beyond the arch Monday night after going 0-6 from three-point range on Saturday.

“My shots just weren’t falling again, so I tried to get the ball inside to the post men when I could, go to the basket, and try and get it to whoever was open,” Pickering said. “I just have to try and do other things to help us win. Right now, my shot isn’t falling for me- but, I’ll take care of that.”

The Lynx were also without sophomore, and last season’s Midwest Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, Brandon Alexander, who missed the game with an illness.

“Brandon’s just not feeling well right now,” said McCullum. “But that doesn’t give us an excuse if we play bad. At this time of year, everyone in the whole country has someone who’s sick, or injured, or is out because of something else. We have to play through it.”

Lewis and Clark was lead in scoring by Gilchrese, who finished with 17 points. The Trail Blazers also got 16 points from Taylor, followed by freshman Pierre Howard with 15 points. Sophmores David Graham and Alphonso Towns also contributed 10 points to the Trail Blazers cause.

The Lynx must now prepare for Wednesday’s match-up with John Wood Community College in Quincy.

“Honestly, they are one of the few teams I don’t know much about in our conference,” said McCullum. “But, in the past they’ve always been very tough, very rugged. They usually like to pound the ball inside, so I would hope we’d be able to use some of our speed and athleticism to our advantage.”