Wohltman, Reed Guide Lincoln Land College

Jeremy Wohltman (13) and Reed Willenborg (33) head towards the basket for Lincoln Land College. Photo courtesy of Lincoln Land Community College website along with story.

The Parkland College Cobras were in Springfield for a late season MWAC match up Lincoln Land Community College.  The Loggers were shorthanded to start the game as point guard Marcus Graham injured his back in pre-game warm-ups. But the Loggers went on to hand Parkland a 60-52 loss.
 
The Cobras opened the game with a 9-2 run. The Loggers responded and tied the game at 13. Marcus Graham finally entered the game at the 11:00 mark and promptly buried a three. The first half was a back and forth defensive struggle that ended in a 23-23 tie.

The Loggers came out quickly in the second half and built a nine point lead. Parkland wasn't ready to go away as they twice cut the lead to three points. The Loggers built the lead back up to 12 with 2:36. Despite three turnovers in the last two minutes, the Loggers managed to hold on and make free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
 
Lincoln Land was led by sophomore Jeremy Wohltman, an Effingham High School graduate, who posted a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Wohltman connected on six of 12 from the field, one of three from three-point range and two of four at the line. He also added two assits. Quenton Lowe had 13 points and six rebounds. Marcus Graham chipped in 11. St. Anthony graduate Reed Willenborg hit thre of eight from the field, two of three from the free throw line for eight points. He also had three rebounds and two assists.
 
"We fought and scratched for a full 40 minutes tonight.  It feels good to finish a game with effort," Coach Jones said.
 
Eastern Illinois 58, Chicago State 50

CHICAGO – Eastern Illinois had two crucial blocks in the final 1:30 of action holding Chicago State to 31 percent shooting as EIU won its second straight road game, 58-50, at the Jones Convocation Center.

Josh Piper had the first block at 1:29 after CSU collected an offensive rebound on a missed free throw.  Malcolm Herron then hit a jumper in the lane to put EIU up 54-48 with 58 seconds remaining.  Herron then blocked a shot with 43 seconds left as he capped his night. Herron led EIU with 14 points.

EIU jumped out to a quick 13-6 lead as Piper, Herron and Austin Akers all drained 3-pointers during the first 7:40 of the game.  Piper scored five points in the final 42 seconds of the first half to stake EIU to a 27-22 halftime lead.  Piper finished with 10 points.  EIU shot 6-of-12 from 3-point range.

The Panthers extended the second half lead to 31-24 with 17:22 remaining as Sherman Blanford hit a jumper.  EIU then turned the ball over seven straight times as Chicago State climbed back in the game.  The Cougars took the lead 32-31 with 14:41 left to play as Clarke Rosenberg hit a pair of free throws.  CSU was 15-of-22 from the line.

Blanford put EIU back in the lead with a jumper at 13:20 and Alex Austin made it a three point game with 12:48 left as his bucket pushed EIU’s lead to 35-32.  Austin had 12 points while Blanford had seven points and 12 rebounds.

Jamere Dismukes closed EIU’s lead to one point at 12:27 but a Piper tip-in and Austin runner kept EIU’s lead at no fewer than four points the remainder of the game.

EIU improved to 10-20 on the year.  The Panthers will host SIU Edwardsville at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Lantz Arena.  CSU fell to 8-20 overall.  The Cougars were led by Nate Duhon with 18 points.

Belmont 73, SIUE 43

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – It was a tale of two halves for SIUE men's basketball Wednesday night in a 73-43 loss to Belmont at Curb Event Center.

SIUE, now 9-17 overall and 5-10 in the Ohio Valley Conference, shot 47.8 percent (11-23) in the first half, but then converted just four of 22 second half field goal attempts (18.2 percent). The Cougars scored just 15 second half points.

"Belmont is a very good team," SIUE Head Coach Lennox Forrester said. "They are good defensively and offensively and they proved it tonight.

"We did a terrible job of finishing around the basket in the second half," Forrester continued. "We had plenty of chances but we just came away with nothing."