Lincoln-Way Central has no answer for Lyons' Adams

LAGRANGE -- Jeff Adams' best sport is football.

But the 6-foot-8, 280-pound Lincoln-Way Central center had his way during Friday during Lyons Township's 70-45 victory over Lincoln-Way Central at the Lyons Thanksgiving Tournament.

Adams, recruited heavily by Big Ten and Pac-10 schools, scored the first 8 points of the game and dominated both backboards.

He closed with 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting. He grabbed 8 rebounds. All but two of his boards came at the offensive end.

"We weren't able to overcome that early deficit," Lincoln-Way Central coach Matt Smith said. "Against a team like that, there isn't much margin for error. I thought we played good defense, but putbacks hurt and we just couldn't overcome a huge size disadvantage."

Lincoln-Way Central (0-2) received 12 points from Eric Hockberger and 8 from Larry McMullin, but the Lions took away 5-foot-10 shooting guard Alex Adams.

Lyons guard Collin Alloti was with Adams every step of the way, limiting him to 3 shots. None of his shots dropped, and Adams managed just 2 fourth-quarter free throws. Foul trouble experienced by 6-foot-5 Jordan Miller also created significant problems.

Miller is Central's lone size inside, and he recorded 2 early fouls. Miller had 4 fouls early in the third quarter. His time out of the game meant a Lyons team featuring six players 6-foot-5 or taller had an easier time of it.

Lyons finished with a 33-21 rebounding advantage. The edge was 18-7 on the offensive glass.

Tyler Severson joined McMullin with 8 points for the Knights. Central could manage just 39 shots at the hoop compared to 56 for Lyons, which converted 27 times.

Lyons owned a 22-9 surplus after a quarter. Central narrowed the gap to 11 on several occasions, but the Knights would never draw closer.

Central resumes tourney play at 6 tonight against winless Chicago Gordon Tech.