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02-24-2012, 10:00 AM
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02-24-2012, 10:01 AM
STANFORD — A chorus of “We Want Boyle!” rose from the Lincoln County student section as the final 22.7 seconds ticked off the clock Wednesday night.
It wasn’t until those last seconds that the Lincoln boys were finally able to close out a nail-biter in their boys 45th District Tournament semifinal, advancing to Friday’s championship game with a 48-42 victory over Danville.
Luke Hill, who led the Patriots with 19 points, drove inside to score the game’s final field goal with 2:27 remaining to break a 40-all tie, but it would be the last shot to fall. As the clock fell under 30 seconds, the Admirals were forced to foul and Hill and Trenton Edgington, who finished with 15 points, delivered at the line, sinking six free throws for the win.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be the type of game it was. We call them gut wins or grinder games, and you have to win those this time of year to advance,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “Both games we played (in the regular season) were close, and we know they’ve got a very good basketball team. They are very well-coached, and they have a star in (Tryston)¿Ford. They just hang around and hang around.”
Before Lincoln (19-12)¿could advance to the title game against Boyle County, Ford, who had a game-high 20 points for Danville, attempted to answer Hill’s final bucket and force the sixth tie of the game but missed. Rob Caudill got the grab off the miss, then Christian Gateskill-Fuqua tried to give the Admirals their first lead of the game with a 3-point shot from the wing. But the trey bounced off the glass and Hill grabbed the rebound for Lincoln.
Danville (13-15) got another shot at a tie after a Devonta Alcorn defensive grab, but again the Admirals would miss their target, with a Damir Karapandzic miss pulled down by Jacob Conway.
After a couple fouls by Danville, Edgington calmly knocked down two free throws off a Ford foul to give the Patriots a 44-40 advantage with 22.7 seconds left. Gateskill-Fuqua picked up two free throws off a Hill foul at the 14.8-second mark, then it was Hill stepping up to finish, sinking four straight free throws to set the final score.
“We played six kids tonight and they all really played hard, and Trenton and Luke finished out the great effort by stepping up and making those big, big free throws,” Jackson said.
Lincoln was 8 for 8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 9 for 10 overall.
“At the end of the game, we had to put them on the free-throw line,” Danville coach Andrew Zaheri said. “And if you have to put Lincoln County on the free-throw line you’re just about done in. Coach Jackson does such a good job that, if it’s a two-point or three-point ballgame, you’re going to really have to make some plays. Credit to them. They’re always just calm. It’s really hard to unnerve them, and in the end they always knock down their free throws.”
“This really was anybody’s game. This was definitely one of those games where you wish you had a few points cushion.”
The closeness of the game was reflected by a margin of one to three points for most of the night and a lead of no more than four points until Hill’s final two foul shots. But it was also reflected in several of the game statistics.
Lincoln and Danville were even on the boards with 28 apiece, with Hill and Ford each getting nine rebounds. Danville had six turnovers and Lincoln had nine, and the Patriots had four steals to the Admirals’ three. The two teams also shot well at the foul line, with Lincoln at 90 percent and Danville at 87 percent (13 for 15).
“We do kind of mirror each other,” Zaheri said. “We both have a good post player and we both have some perimeters that can knock shots down. It was just one of those things tonight where they hit more shots.”
That would be the biggest difference for the two teams. Lincoln was at 50 percent from the field, making good on 19 of 38 attempts, while Danville was held to just 29.5 percent, going 13 for 44.
“They shot 29 percent from the floor, and that’s pretty good defense,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t overall really, really pleased with our defensive effort because I thought we let them get in the lane, but I thought the last 4 minutes of the game we defended pretty daggone good.”
Both teams shot well in the first quarter. Lincoln, which got off to a 6-2 start, connected on nine of 13 shot attempts in the first while Danville made six of eight. Ford and Caudill both hit 3-pointers in the first to keep the Admirals within 19-16.
Scoring dropped off over the second and third quarters with seven points the most tallied by either team. Lincoln led 26-23 at the half after a 7-7 second quarter, and Danville edged the Patriots 7-6 in the third to make it 32-30 heading into the final frame.
Ford kept the Danville offense firing in the fourth, scoring 10 of the Admirals’ 12 points. The score was tied four times in the fourth — at 32, 34, 36 and 40 — before Hill hit to put Lincoln on top for good and set up a Lincoln-Boyle final.
“Coming over here we really liked our chances to win tonight,” Zaheri said. “But that being said, we knew it was going to be a nail-biter. We felt like it was going to come down to the end of the game and that’s exactly what happened.”
http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/sports/
It wasn’t until those last seconds that the Lincoln boys were finally able to close out a nail-biter in their boys 45th District Tournament semifinal, advancing to Friday’s championship game with a 48-42 victory over Danville.
Luke Hill, who led the Patriots with 19 points, drove inside to score the game’s final field goal with 2:27 remaining to break a 40-all tie, but it would be the last shot to fall. As the clock fell under 30 seconds, the Admirals were forced to foul and Hill and Trenton Edgington, who finished with 15 points, delivered at the line, sinking six free throws for the win.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be the type of game it was. We call them gut wins or grinder games, and you have to win those this time of year to advance,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “Both games we played (in the regular season) were close, and we know they’ve got a very good basketball team. They are very well-coached, and they have a star in (Tryston)¿Ford. They just hang around and hang around.”
Before Lincoln (19-12)¿could advance to the title game against Boyle County, Ford, who had a game-high 20 points for Danville, attempted to answer Hill’s final bucket and force the sixth tie of the game but missed. Rob Caudill got the grab off the miss, then Christian Gateskill-Fuqua tried to give the Admirals their first lead of the game with a 3-point shot from the wing. But the trey bounced off the glass and Hill grabbed the rebound for Lincoln.
Danville (13-15) got another shot at a tie after a Devonta Alcorn defensive grab, but again the Admirals would miss their target, with a Damir Karapandzic miss pulled down by Jacob Conway.
After a couple fouls by Danville, Edgington calmly knocked down two free throws off a Ford foul to give the Patriots a 44-40 advantage with 22.7 seconds left. Gateskill-Fuqua picked up two free throws off a Hill foul at the 14.8-second mark, then it was Hill stepping up to finish, sinking four straight free throws to set the final score.
“We played six kids tonight and they all really played hard, and Trenton and Luke finished out the great effort by stepping up and making those big, big free throws,” Jackson said.
Lincoln was 8 for 8 from the foul line in the fourth quarter and 9 for 10 overall.
“At the end of the game, we had to put them on the free-throw line,” Danville coach Andrew Zaheri said. “And if you have to put Lincoln County on the free-throw line you’re just about done in. Coach Jackson does such a good job that, if it’s a two-point or three-point ballgame, you’re going to really have to make some plays. Credit to them. They’re always just calm. It’s really hard to unnerve them, and in the end they always knock down their free throws.”
“This really was anybody’s game. This was definitely one of those games where you wish you had a few points cushion.”
The closeness of the game was reflected by a margin of one to three points for most of the night and a lead of no more than four points until Hill’s final two foul shots. But it was also reflected in several of the game statistics.
Lincoln and Danville were even on the boards with 28 apiece, with Hill and Ford each getting nine rebounds. Danville had six turnovers and Lincoln had nine, and the Patriots had four steals to the Admirals’ three. The two teams also shot well at the foul line, with Lincoln at 90 percent and Danville at 87 percent (13 for 15).
“We do kind of mirror each other,” Zaheri said. “We both have a good post player and we both have some perimeters that can knock shots down. It was just one of those things tonight where they hit more shots.”
That would be the biggest difference for the two teams. Lincoln was at 50 percent from the field, making good on 19 of 38 attempts, while Danville was held to just 29.5 percent, going 13 for 44.
“They shot 29 percent from the floor, and that’s pretty good defense,” Jackson said. “I wasn’t overall really, really pleased with our defensive effort because I thought we let them get in the lane, but I thought the last 4 minutes of the game we defended pretty daggone good.”
Both teams shot well in the first quarter. Lincoln, which got off to a 6-2 start, connected on nine of 13 shot attempts in the first while Danville made six of eight. Ford and Caudill both hit 3-pointers in the first to keep the Admirals within 19-16.
Scoring dropped off over the second and third quarters with seven points the most tallied by either team. Lincoln led 26-23 at the half after a 7-7 second quarter, and Danville edged the Patriots 7-6 in the third to make it 32-30 heading into the final frame.
Ford kept the Danville offense firing in the fourth, scoring 10 of the Admirals’ 12 points. The score was tied four times in the fourth — at 32, 34, 36 and 40 — before Hill hit to put Lincoln on top for good and set up a Lincoln-Boyle final.
“Coming over here we really liked our chances to win tonight,” Zaheri said. “But that being said, we knew it was going to be a nail-biter. We felt like it was going to come down to the end of the game and that’s exactly what happened.”
http://www.centralkynews.com/amnews/sports/
02-24-2012, 05:24 PM
I can say one thing Lincolns coach Jeff Jackson is a master.This guy knows what he is doing as good as anybody. I hope they can hang on to him,but I would suspect he will get a top job soon.If not the AD's in the state are dumber than I give them credit. This is a nice team and they are good heady ball players. I hope they make a good run and who knows maybe a story book season.
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