OTTAWA - When Bloomington High School went to a zone press in the fourth quarter Friday night, Lincoln point guard Brandon Farmer felt the brunt of the pressure. | High basketball postseason photo gallery

"It was unbelievably hard to get through," Farmer said. "I was pretty winded."

The 5-foot-10 senior had enough left in the tank to coax in the front end of a one-and-bonus free throw situation with 21.5 seconds left, giving Lincoln a 50-49 lead. Farmer and his teammates then survived a missed shot by Bloomington senior star Justin Bocot in the final seconds to earn the Ottawa Class AA Sectional championship at venerable Kingman Gym.

The Railsplitters' 21st straight victory advanced them to Tuesday's 7:30 p.m. super-sectional at Redbird Arena against Peoria Richwoods.

Farmer scored 20 points and 6-5 senior forward Josh Sutton added 18 - 12 in the second half - as ninth-ranked Lincoln (32-2) won despite eight fourth-quarter turnovers.

"We didn't really cover that (the press) in practice. We thought they were going to play all man-to-man," Lincoln senior Matt Schick said. "We struggled with that. But we came up with the shots when we needed them. I thought the last shot was good. We knew Bocot was going to get the ball and try to penetrate."

The 6-3 Bocot, a Southern Illinois recruit, caught the ball in the backcourt following a Bloomington timeout with 16.4 seconds left. He eventually found room along the baseline against Lincoln's zone defense, but his 5-foot shot bounced off the rim and Sutton grabbed the rebound as time expired.

"We got a good shot, right close to the basket," BHS coach Jamie Codron said. "It didn't fall. Your seniors … you're going to live and die by them.

"We tried to double screen the zone with our two back guys. But we waited too long and didn't get the shot off early enough, so we didn't have a chance to do anything with it."

Top-seeded Lincoln trailed 17-7 and 24-15 in the first half, but used an 11-2 run to force a 26-26 halftime tie. The Railers built a 42-35 lead after three quarters when Sutton's two 3-pointers sparked a 14-7 surge.

Second-seeded Bloomington (23-5) applied the press at that point and rallied to lead twice in the fourth quarter, the final time at 49-47 with 1:20 left on a Bocot drive. Sutton answered with a layup 10 seconds later, setting up the frantic finish.

"We beat a great basketball team," Lincoln coach Neil Alexander said. "Our guys … man, I'm proud of them. They're a special group of kids.

"They played hard and played together and they executed. I thought for a while we could have folded. But we held in, and we made the plays when we had to."

Sutton also had a team-high 11 rebounds, eight of which came in the second half. Farmer added seven rebounds, while Schick had seven points and seven assists.

Bocot led Bloomington with 21 points. Six-four senior Lonnie Lawrence added 14 points and eight rebounds for the Raiders, who were seeking a second straight sectional title.

"We didn't take the best shots," Lawrence said. "I feel we could have played a lot better than we did. The last play didn't go like how it's supposed to go. But we still gave it all that we could."

BHS struggled from the field, sinking 18 of 49 for 37 percent. Lincoln was 18 of 39 (46 percent). The Railers' final margin was earned at the foul line. They made 9 of 13 free throws to BHS' 8 of 12.

"Little things add up," Codron said. "We missed some shots that normally we make. We made some bad decisions late in the game.

"It's been a fun ride. We're one bucket away from continuing to play. It's a great group of kids. All 15 of them have worked hard, and I'm just proud to be associated with them."

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