By Ryan Wilson, Editor
SPRINGFIELD – Lincoln Land was nearly tied with the second-ranked team in the nation at halftime of the first round of the Region 24 Tournament. Parkland College, the No. 2 seed in the tourney, even trailed the Loggers by 5 points in the first half.
But the latter half of the game was all Parkland.
The Loggers men’s basketball team lost, 65-75, to the Parkland Cobras on Friday, March 6 in Cass Gym. Ending Lincoln Land’s season. The team was ranked sixth in the tournament.
“Tonight closed a disappoint season,” said Coach Chad Jones. “We were right there in so many games, but just made too many errors to get over the hump to victory.”
Freshman guard Eddie Longmeyer had a game-high 25 points for LLCC. He also had six rebounds.
Lincoln Land shot 48.1 percent and scored 30 points in the first half. The team led by its game-high of 5 points (29-24) with 3:15 left in that half.
“We (Parkland) needed to be more focused,” said Parkland head coach Anthony Figueroa.
Figueroa then called a timeout, which prompted a 7-1 run for his team to end the half.
The Cobras shot 46.1 percent in the first 20 minutes of the game. They also shot 42.8 percent from the 3-point line.
Parkland had 42 points and shot 48.0 percent in the second half. The team led a game-high 21 points (67-46) at one point. LLCC was not able to cut its deficit to single digits after that point.
Now 26-5 on the season, Parkland was led in scoring by sophomore guard Charles Swett-Washington and forward Corvon Butler who both had 13 points. Butler also had nine rebounds.
Freshman forward Edin Mehmodovic had a season-high 19 points for Lincoln Land.
LLCC freshmen accounted for 80 percent of the team’s points.
The Loggers record moves to 14-17 on the season. They ended the season on a six-game losing streak, while finished 0-11 in conference matchups.
Parkland will play Danville Area Community College at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 6 in the second round of the tournament. Parkland has won five-straight games, and it is 8-2 in conference games.
Ryan Wilson can be reached at [email protected] or (217) 786-2311.
