Wolves Ousted From Tournament

LINCOLN BOYS BATTLE GRAVETTE DEEP INTO FOURTH

LINCOLN — Lincoln forged two big runs but couldn’t buy a bucket during crunch time as the Wolves were eliminated, 57-48, from the District 4A-1 boys basketball tournament by Gravette.

A deep 3-pointer by Sterling Morphis with 30 seconds to play ended the 3:48 Lincoln went without a field goal in the fourth quarter, but wasn’t enough to avoid a nine-point loss on Tuesday, Feb. 13. The Wolves’ last bucket before that came on freshman Daytin Davis’ driving bank-shot in traffic that put Lincoln ahead 43-41 at the 4:43 mark.

Lincoln led 39-38 after three quarters when Morphis rebounded, pushed the ball up the floor and drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cap a 13-6 Wolf run over the final 6:15 of the third. The Wolves had the ball to start the fourth, but missed a pair of free throws that could have extended their lead.

Gravette came back with a 3-pointer by Dayten Wishon, who led all scorers with 31 points. A blocked shot triggered a Lincoln fast-break that Brance Sugg completed with a 15-feet pull-up jumper to tie the game, at 41-41, the first of three ties in the fourth.

Chris Childress forged a second fourth-quarter tie at 43-all with a putback. Lincoln took its last lead when Troy Sugg was undercut attempting a three and made 2-of-3 free throws pushing the Wolves ahead, 45-43, with 4:27 showing.

The Wolves then suffered an inopportune 4:03 scoring drought. Meanwhile Gravette continued to put points on the board to build a lead. Childress scored going the other way for Gravette on an unusual play with the basket counting, but an away-from-the-ball foul was called on Wishon battling for position against Chance Blankenship.

Wishon was fouled hard attempting to dunk. The officials huddled and ruled the foul intentional. Wishon, who was 10-of-13 at the foul line sank both and the Lions in-bounded. They burned the clock leading 49-45 and reset the offense with the 6-5, Childress rebounding his own miss and playing the

ball back out. Kelton Trembly and Wishon played a two-man game of catch before Kelton Trembly got to the front of the rim for an easy deuce widening the gap to 51-45.

Lincoln was only able to score once on Morphis’ trey in the last 1:09 and the Lions closed out the game by converting 6-of-6 free throws to win 57-48.

Lincoln battled back from a first-half deficit by posting a 14-8 run over a 5:44 stretch of the second quarter following Wishon’s trailer three with two minutes gone in the second. Lincoln center Caleb Hale had 8 of his 10 points in the period. Hale’s bucket in the key was followed by a Morphis steal and Brance Sugg offensive rebound, which he turned into a trifecta. Hale was active defensively. His steal of an entry pass into the post set up Davis’ 3-pointer. Wishon answered with a trey of his own for Gravette from the right wing.

With time running down, Troy Sugg stole the ball and found Morphis heading down-court with the outlet. Morphis missed, but Brance Sugg followed by banking a shot home to trim Gravette’s halftime lead to 29-23.

MARK HUMPHREY ENTERPRISE-LEADER Caleb Hale, a 6-4 junior, backs in with the dribble against Gravette. The Wolves were eliminated from the District 4A-1 boys basketball tournament they hosted last week by Gravette, 57-48, despite 10 points by Hale on Feb. 13.