Indians edge Lincoln, lose to Bedford

A seven game home stretch started out well for Tecumseh’s varsity boys basketball team with the Indians recording a solid 44-40 Southeastern Conference victory against visiting Lincoln on Friday, Feb. 1. However, the Indians weren’t as fortunate on Tuesday, Feb. 5, following with a disappointing 55-30 loss to Bedford.The Kicking Mules took a 14-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back, increasing their advantage to 30-14 by the end of the third quarter.Against Lincoln the contest was tied 35-35 with 2:24 left in the final quarter when Tecumseh’s Ben Kasper tagged a three point shot for the lead. Lincoln added another point from the free-throw line to make it a two-point, 38-36 contest but the Railsplitters began fouling and allowed the Indians to seal the win from the charity stripe. Jimmy Terry hit two of two for a 40-36 Tecumseh lead but Lincoln immediately attacked the net and added another bucket from the field to make up for the points.With just 43.6 seconds left Terry was fouled again. He connected on both free throws and the Indians increased their lead to 42-38.Lincoln connected again from the field and made it a 42-40 game with 34.1 second left but that was the last point they would add. Ben Vannatter was sent to the free throw line with 31.9 seconds left and connected on one of two shots for Tecumseh.The Railsplitters went to the outside looking for a three point shot but Tecumseh’s Eric Eldred forced a bad pass that went out of bound to give the Indians the ball back with 14.3 seconds remaining. A Lincoln defender fouled Jacob Britt after the ensuing inbound and sent him to the free throw line (.05 seconds) where he would hit one of two shots for the final score. “It was a great win for us,” said Tecumseh coach Marc Comstock. “Obviously we struggled offensively in the first half but fortunately we defended well.”Tecumseh allowed the Railsplitters their biggest lead when finishing the opening quarter down 7-2. However the Indians went on to win the remaining three quarters to secure the win. Tecumseh outscored Lincoln 13-11 in the second and third quarters and 16-11 in the fourth.Lincoln held an 18-15 lead at the end of the first half and went into the final quarter up 29-28.“We just tried to be a little more efficient offensively in the second half, and not have so many empty possessions where we either didn’t get a shot or turn it over. That’s been a big problem for us,” said Comstock. “We didn’t have many turnovers the second half and I thought we handled their press pretty well.”The Indians had their hands full in their previous game against visiting Ypsilanti on Tuesday, Jan. 29, only scoring 16 points to the Phoenix’s 53.Casey Hunt led the Indians’ offense with six points while Britt (5 rebounds) and Bryan each scored four points.Tecumseh remains at home for a stretch of five additional games. The Indians face Adrian for a second time this season on Friday, Feb. 8. Game time is 7 p.m.