Wolves Ousted From District Tourney

WEST FORK— An injury to sophomore Daytin Davis severely limited his mobility and without him in the lineup Lincoln never got its offense on track, losing 64-45 to West Fork Tuesday, Feb. 12.

Lincoln replicated a rough start from the day before against Mansfield. Wolves coach Tim Rich acknowledged injuries played a factor.

“We just weren’t clicking to start this game. The rhythm wasn’t there. We’ve had some injuries here at the end with sore knees and ankles,” Rich said. “It’s that time of year, a quick turnaround right back tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. against West Fork at West Fork. You know that was going to be a tough one.”

The Wolves (13-14) led twice early at 3-2 on Adam Keith’s 3-pointer and 7-6 before the Tigers took control.

West Fork paid special attention to Lincoln’s leading scorer, Sterling Morphis, making him work to get shots off. Morphis scored 6 of Lincoln’s 9 first quarter points and drew the Wolves within 10-9 with 2:47 left in the period when he got inside the paint. Morphis finished with 22 points in the last game of his high school basketball career.

Mason Ramey scored the final four points of the first for West Fork including a put-back in the final 16 seconds to give the Tigers a 14-9 lead.

West Fork outscored Lincoln by an 18-7 margin in the second staking a 32-16 halftime lead.

The Wolves found themselves trailing by 20 early in the third and fought an uphill battle. Morphis sank a pair of threes sandwiched around Malik Bagsby’s spin move and bank shot trimming the deficit to 36-24 midway through the third.

The Wolves could get no closer as West Fork pulled away closing out the quarter on an 11-5 run.

The Tigers led 47-29 going into the fourth and by as much as 60-34 at the 4:38 mark. Lincoln finished with a 15-4 flurry to make the final score respectable.

The Wolves displayed heart even when the game was out of reach. Cam Brown forced a West Fork traveling violation and made a 3-pointer. Keith’s defensive hustle created another turnover when West Fork lost the ball out-of-bounds. He drove, drew the defense and dished to Cole Griscom for a layup. Keith went to the hardwood making a steal while on the floor and finding an outlet which led to Bagsby’s layup.

Despite their late surge, the Wolves lost 64-45.

Brenon Burks scored a game-high 27 points for West Fork with Ramey adding 16.

With the loss, Lincoln was eliminated from 3A-1 West District tournament after advancing to the second round with a come-from-behind 74-64 win over Mansfield the day before.

WEST FORK 64, LINCOLN 45

West Fork 14 18 15 17 – 64 Lincoln 9 7 13 16 – 45 West Fork (16-11): Brennon Burks 9 9-10 27, Mason Ramey 6 4-5

16, Justin Bivens 3 2-2 8, Johnny Di’camillo 2 2-2 6, Wyett Kuetz 2 0-0 5, Destin Steinmetz 1 0-2 2. Totals 23 17-21 64.

Lincoln (13-14): Sterling Morphis 8 2-3 22, Adam Keith 3 0-0 7, Malik Bagsby 3 1-1 7, Cam Brown 1 1-2 4, Chase Hutchens 1 0-2 3, Cole Griscom 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 4-8 45. 3-Point Goals — Lincoln 7 (Morphis 4, Hutchens, Keith, Brown). West Fork 1 (Kuetz).