Lincoln hands Cecil a 73-63 Loss
March 19, 2009
Danville, IL- Game 9 of the NJCAA DII Men's Basketball Tournament featured #2 ranked Cecil Community College vs. #15 ranked Lincoln College. Cecil received a 1st round bye from a blind draw. Lincoln College advanced to the 2nd round after defeating Morton College Wednesday night. The winner of this game will take on Kirkwood Community College on Friday, March 20 at 8:30 PM in the semifinals. The loser of this game will continue play in the consolation bracket vs. Columbus State Community College on Friday, March 20 at 3:00 PM.
Lincoln jumped out to an early 10-4 lead in the first 3 minutes of the game. Cecil came at Lincoln with the ¾ court pressure but Lincoln responded well by finding the open man and finishing their open looks. Cecil was able to cut the lead to 2 points by the 10 minute mark in the first half. Lincoln held the lead for the first 15 minutes of the game, but Cecil stole the lead for a 30 second period. Lincoln got an easy transition lay-up to go back on top. Lincoln's Brandon Farmer played well in all aspects, hitting every open look and directed traffic for his team. Cecil's Brandon Greene made some athletic plays at the rim to keep his team in the game. The teams battled hard at each other, but the game remained close. Lincoln went into the locker room for halftime on top, with a score of 36-33.
1ST HALF LEADERS FOR CECIL:
Brandon Greene, 8 pts
Antonio Haymon, 6 pts
1ST HALF LEADERS FOR LINCOLN:
Brandon Farmer, 11 pts
Darius Adams, 9 pts
Cecil didn't score for the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half, but hit a 3-pointer to keep the game in arms reach. Lincoln continued to out rebound Cecil like they did in the first half (by 9). Tensions began to rise as neither team could pull away for a comfortable lead. Lincoln's Darius Adams had 7 quick points that were capped off by a 3-pointer to put Lincoln up 47-40 with 13 minutes remaining in the game. Cecil's defense began to come at Lincoln hard, especially as they brought the ball up the court. They tried to double team the ball at any opportunity. Lincoln hit some tough shots as they slipped through the press to keep a consistent 6 or 7 point lead. The Lincoln got several second chance shots and fouls, preventing Cecil to make any big progress towards taking charge of the game. Eventually Cecil was able to make a run off of a couple transition points, capped off by a 3-pointer in the corner to bring the score within 1 point. Lincoln Head Coach Kirk Whiteman was forced to call a timeout to try and freeze Cecil's run. Right after the timeout Cecil stole the 53-52 lead with 8 minutes remaining. Both teams swapped leads several times for the next several minutes. Lincoln finally pulled away with less than 4 minutes to play after Bryce Davis hit a 3-pointer from the corner to put his team up 63-57. With under a minute to play Lincoln held a 65-59 advantage, which forced Cecil to foul. Unfortunately for Cecil, they were not able to close the gap. Final score: Lincoln 73, Cecil 63.
GAME LEADERS FOR CECIL:
Antonio Haymon, 14 pts
Brandon Greene, 12 pts
Omar Strong, 12 pts
Tabari Perry, 7 pts
GAME LEADERS FOR LINCOLN:
Darius Adams, 20 pts
Brandon Farmer, 15 pts
Don Gavin, 12 pts
Bryce Davis, 11 pts
Chris Ware, 10 pts