TOKAY BOYS FALL TO LINCOLN ON COURT
One thing stood in the way of the Tokay High boys basketball team earning its second Tri-City Athletic League win this season — an offensive run led by Lincoln center Andre Kelly.
Sprinkle some 3-pointers to open the second half, a six-point differential game turned into an 89-61 Lincoln win over Tokay at The Jungle on Friday. Tokay (1-1 in the TCAL, 8-12) defeated Tracy, 71-68, on Wednesday.
Lincoln (1-1 in the TCAL, 13-6) led 37-27 at halftime. After Trojan guard Niko Levin hit a trey to start the third quarter to bump the lead to 40-27, the Tigers came right back after the shot, thanks to the hot hand of forward Jorge Hernandez (16 points), who also shot down a 3-pointer. That pulled Tokay to 42-35, with a mixture of baskets from Tokay guard Austin Dongon (17 points) and Lincoln under two minutes into the quarter.
Kelly, who prevented the Tigers from extra offensive opportunities inside the paint by grabbing rebounds throughout game, flexed his muscles at the free throw line as well. Making two shots from the line, the Trojans upped their lead to 44-35 with five minutes left in the game.
That was the start of a 12-4 run that lasted three minutes, ending with Lincoln sitting on a comfortable 56-39 lead. Kelly finished with 32 points, including 18 in the first half, and sank 6-of-6 free throws.
“We were hoping to execute, to wear them out defensively,” said Tokay coach Travis Okamoto. “But we got caught in taking some quick shots.”
At the start of the fourth quarter, Lincoln, which led 59-39, let off the gas pedal. That allowed the Tigers continued to make noise in the final eight minutes that included 21 points. Half of those points were treys from Tokay forward Aidan Green, who had a game-high 26 points.
Toward the end of the quarter, Okamoto and Lincoln coach Gary Greeno cleared their respective benches. With two minutes left in the game, the Trojans rode to an 81-61 advantage.
Lincoln led 29-28 entering the second quarter. Bulking up inside behind Kelly’s shooting, the Trojans started to break free from the Tigers’ grasp that led to the 37-27 score at halftime.
“He’s a beast,” said Okamoto of Kelly. “He ripped it (ball) away from us a couple of times. He’s a pretty tough guy to stop.”
Tokay led the entire first quarter. Behind the outside shooting of guard Dongon and Green, who combined for eight points, the Tigers roared to a 12-4 lead. But the Trojans started their comeback behind Kelly, who had 10 points that included the go-ahead shot with 20 seconds remaining in the quarter. Lincoln led 19-18 after the first eight minutes of the game.
The Tigers bounded between two points guards in Nateras, a junior who started last year as a sophomore, who ran the offense in the second quarter. Dongon, a senior who started part-time last year, started the game.
“With Victor, you have experience,” said Okamoto of Nateras. “We have a lot of faith in
Victor. With Austin, he does so much ... he has to make a lot of decisions. He’s really coming in to his own as a starting point guard.”
Along with the Tigers’ trio of scorers was forward Anam Akbar with two points. Tokay had only 11 rebounds. Dongon had nine of the Tigers’ 10 assists.
Behind Kelly’s points for Lincoln were forward Elijah Spradley with 18 points, and guard Brett Zastrow and guard Sam Smith with eight points each.
Contact reporter Mike Bush at mikeb@lodinews.com. Follow on Twitter: @MBushLodiSports.