Section title on the line, Lincoln wants payback
James Brown isn’t normally the first name on Lincoln boys basketball coach Carl Jacobs’ playlist, but as of Thursday, it had moved to the top.
At least that’s true of one of Brown’s biggest hits: “The Payback.”
“I’ll be playing it more than a couple of times between now and Friday,” Jacobs said.
The Mustangs (25-3) take on rival Lowell (25-5) at 7 p.m. Friday at Kezar Pavilion for the San Francisco Section championship.
The teams split two meetings this season, with Lowell winning 40-38 on Feb. 13 to break Lincoln’s 34-game Academic Athletic Association win streak. The Cardinals used a balanced offense — Troy Smith had a team-high 11 points and Brayden Lee and Jalen Ly combined for 14 — and rugged defense to hold Lincoln to its lowest point total in nearly three seasons.
“They really spread it around,” Jacobs said, “and they always play great defense.”
Lowell did again Wednesday in a 50-37 semifinal home win over Mission at the same time Lincoln was getting out and running in a 76-62 victory over Washington.
Cortevious Taylor, a 6-6 transfer from Riordan, led Lincoln with 26 points. Justin Aquino added 23 and Quentin Kennedy 16.
Aquino played less than half of the loss to Lowell, fighting off a mysterious allergy that kept him out another week; Wednesday was his first game in two weeks. Aquino, the team’s leader, scored 42 points and made 11 3-pointers — including a buzzer-beater — in Lincoln’s biggest win of the season, a 76-75 overtime triumph over University in December.
“He got his feet back underneath him” on Wednesday, Jacobs said. “Not having him much the last time (against Lowell) surely hurt. Especially late in the game when trying to score on our last possession.”
Aquino played the entire game in the teams’ first meeting this season, a 62-44 Lincoln home win Jan. 18. Kennedy led a balanced attack that night with 16, Aquino added 14, and Taylor had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Sean Daly and Ly combined for 18 to lead Lowell that night.
Both teams have secured berths in next week’s Northern California playoffs; its brackets will be released Sunday.
The San Francisco Section girls championship between Lincoln (15-15) and Washington (12-5) will be played before the boys’ game. Tip-off is 5 p.m.
North Coast Section: Top seed Dougherty ValleySan Ramon (26-3) will meet No. 2 De La SalleConcord (21-7) at 8 p.m. Friday for the Open Division championship at St. Mary’s College. In Wednesday’s semifinal, USF signee Ryan Beasley scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the first quarter in Dougherty Valley’s 64-60 home win over Granada-Livermore, which got a combined 41 points from Tyler Harris and 7foot St. Mary’s-bound post Andrew McKeever. De La Salle advanced by edging Salesian-Richmond 55-49 behind 14 points by Alec Blair and 12 each by Evan Wells and Arshawn Salkhi. Alvin Loving led Salesian (22-8) with 18 points. All Open teams advance to next week’s NorCals.
The girls’ Open final at 6 p.m. Friday pits top seed Salesian (24-4) against second seed San Ramon Valley-Danville (26-3), also at St. Mary’s College.
Salesian, the defending state Division 1 champ, got 18 points from Makiah Asidanya in its 57-54 semifinal win over CarondeletConcord (22-6).
Central Coast Section: No. 4 seed Serra (17-10) stunned top-seeded Mitty 50-49 on Wednesday to win the Open Division Pool A and will face Pool B winner Sacred Heart Cathedral (15-12) at 8 p.m. Friday in the title game at Santa Clara University. SHC beat host Menlo-Atherton 72-59 to finish in a three-way deadlock with Riordan and Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton at 2-1, but the Irish won the tiebreaker to advance. Ryan Pettis had 22 points for Serra, which made 11 3-pointers to beat Mitty for the first time in three tries this season.
In the girls’ Open Division, Pinewood-Los Altos Hills (16-10) moved into the final against Mitty (25-2) with a 71-50 win at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Wednesday behind 21 points from Ava Uhrich and Alex Facelo’s 17. Freshman post McKenna Woliczko had 24 points in Mitty’s 85-27 win over Los Gatos. The title game will be at 6 p.m. Friday at Santa Clara.