Huron came away with a tough 49-42 loss against Lincoln in a heartbreaking district semifinal game on Wednesday. Through tough defense and fast-paced offense, the Railsplitters came away with the win, though the game was full of highlight plays.

The game started off with Lincoln going on a 6-0 run, coming out of the gates firing on all cylinders and taking advantage of as many transition buckets as it could. Huron was playing great defense but had trouble gaining strong traction offensively, leaving the team in a six-point deficit that would go on for most of the game. The score after the first quarter being 15-9, the same fast and aggressive tone set on both sides of the ball by Lincoln was upheld until halftime, leaving the River Rats in a troubling situation down 25-17.

The second quarter was defining for Lincoln’s pace for the game, and small mistakes lead to huge missed possessions and scoring opportunities left Huron stumbling around on the offensive end. All of a sudden, something clicked for the River Rats after walking out of the locker room after halftime, because Huron came with a whole new level of intensity on defense. Huron was intensely pressing Lincoln’s squad that the Railsplitters could barely get past half court, and though this led to a lot of steals and smart defensive decisions, not to mention a huge tank in momentum for Lincoln, the River Rats were still having some trouble getting anything more than a few inside buckets in the third quarter.

The noticeable change in defense must have translated to offense by the time the fourth quarter came around for Huron, because the River Rats combined their defense and their offense to bring the score gap to a steady five to six-point deficit, while going into the fourth quarter down 35-22. With a multitude of inbound steals leading to paint scores and lots of hard drives to get fouls and make shots, Huron was seemingly on a roll. Lincoln kept their distance, and managed to stay in control for the late fourth quarter, even finishing a mind-blowing alley-oop dunk through Huron’s full-court press that stunned both Huron and Lincoln fans alike. 

Toward the end of the fourth quarter, it got within a four-point game. But between foul calls and lots of clutch free throws for Lincoln, the Railsplitters closed out a tight second playoff win against Huron.