Lynx Lose to Lincoln Land Community College

SPRINGFIELD-- The Lincoln College men’s basketball team fans and foes alike have been accustomed to seeing managed to enter and leave Saturday’s game with a 22-4 record, including a 11-1 mark against conference opponents.

The members of the team representing Lincoln College (22-5, 11-2) on Saturday looked quite similar to the afore-mentioned team in every aspect, except for the ability to score points.

Unfortunately, the latter team that took the floor against Lincoln Land Community College (18-10, 8-6) in a 49-64 loss was in fact the highly respected Lincoln College squad, despite a performance that would have made the casual Lynx fan look twice to be sure. The Lynx came into the game ranked No. 3 in the latest NJCAA Division II National Poll.

Lynx coach BJ McCullum attributed the loss to a lack of “mental sharpness” on the part of his team that the Loggers were more than willing to take advantage of.

“They were ready to play today,” said McCullum of his opponents. “I think our guys got a little happy, and a little full of themselves. I can’t explain it. Obviously, I respect these guys, and they do an outstanding job. I don’t know what our problem is, but we weren’t ready to play today. And it’s my job to get them ready.”

What seemed like imposters dressed in the Lynx silver road uniforms were doomed by a start slow enough to make molasses look speedy. The usually explosive Lynx offense failed to score in the game’s first eight minutes, and didn’t reach double figures until a basket from sophomore Kyle Jacobs with just over five minutes remaining in the first half to make the score 11-16. The Lynx trailed 16-25 at halftime, after shooting just 26.9% from the field in the first twenty minutes.

“Their guys came out from the get go and executed at both ends,” said McCullum. “We didn’t get anything going offensively, we didn’t do a good job of playing together, they were much more fundamentally sound today, and just mentally sharper. That’s a credit to their coaches, and to their players.”

Things didn’t get any better for the Lynx in the second half. The Loggers started the half with a 7-0 run to extend the lead to sixteen points in the half’s first three minutes. Despite a 42.4 second half shooting percentage that was more characteristic of the Lynx typical play, LC would never manage to get the deficit back under double figures.

McCullum said the Lynx own poor first half shooting and the Loggers style of play in terms of tempo made any comeback efforts by the Lynx especially challenging.

“They really play sagging man to man defense, and they try to get a guy out as you catch the ball,” said the coach. “But generally, they play defense with four guys in the paint, and I thought we had some open 15-16 footers early in the game that we didn’t knock down.”

“The tempo they play at, a 10 point lead is more like a 25 point lead. They run 25 or 30 seconds off the clock and move the ball, and if you let them get in their comfort zone, they’ll tear you apart, and that’s what they did today.”

Also burning the Lynx was the effort of Logger post presence Chris Booth, who finished with 23 points on 10-12 shooting, to go with 11 rebounds.

“He has been that way for a long time for us,” said Lincoln Land coach Chad Jones of his pupil. “Definitely, he’s the heart and soul of our team.”

McCullum attributed some of Booth’s success in the paint to a poor defensive effort out front from his team.

“We just didn’t do a good job all day,” said the coach. “We played soft on all their guys. A lot of times Booth was the recipient of the ball when other guys on our defense had break downs. It’s not always the guy that should be guarding him’s fault. Maybe that guy was helping because one of our guards didn’t guard (the perimeter).”

“Quite honestly, we really just didn’t have anybody guard out there today. They did a great job of playing physical, getting position, and reversing the ball and getting it where they wanted to.”

The Lynx were lead in scoring by PJ Keaton with 14 points, followed by Brandon Alexander’s 11.

Asked how he planned to prepare his team for Wednesday’s conference match-up with Spoon River College, McCullum said the emphasis for the coming week’s practice would not be much different, with the exception of some increased focus on fundamentals.

“I’d like to have good days of practice,” said McCullum. “We’re 27 games into the year. I’m not going to take them back, make them run sprints, and do that kind of stuff.”

“It comes down to execution and fundamentals: did we post up strong, did we pass fake, did we cut hard? That’s what it comes down to. That’s why you win early in the season, and that’s why you win late in the season. The better fundamental team and the team that was mentally sharper today won the game.”

Game time is scheduled for 7:30 in Canton.

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