Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Goliath Goes Down
Wolves Hunt Down Tall Pirates In Timber
LINCOLN — After squandering a sevenpoint lead, the Wolves found themselves down, 39-38, but made plays in the final 1:18 to seal a 41-38 win over Greenland on Friday.
The Lincoln varsity boys basketball team (8-7, 1-0) took a 36-29 lead with 4:45 to go on Sergio Morales’ drive past 6-foot-11-inch Peter Barber, scoring an over-the-shoulder reverse lay-up.
Greenland then scored nine unanswered points to seize a 38-36 lead. After a 3-pointer by Mason White, Barber scored twice in the paint to tie it. Justin Lee’s jumper with 1:46 showing climaxed the run, but Lincoln responded with Tyler Cummings nailing a trifecta 28 seconds later to put the Wolves back ahead, 39-38.
Lincoln twice came up with steals in the final 30 seconds, the second of which led to a Morales sinking both ends of a one-and-one, sandwiched around a timeout by Lincoln coach Tim Rich. When Morales’ second foul shot went down, Greenland had just 4.3 seconds to work with. Lincoln had committed just three team fouls and Rich was going to use that to his advantage.
“They called timeout before we could do it,” Rich said, explaining he instructed the Wolves only to foul on the dribble.
Greenland inbounded in the backcourt with 2.8 seconds left and got off a desperation running shot from the right corner that missed as time expired.
“He got away from us and got the shot off, but I told them ‘do not foul anyone shooting,’” Rich said.
Rich said he didn’t know if it was the two-week layoff or intimidation because of the size of Barber, but lamented the Wolves’ lackluster offensive performance in the first quarter. Lincoln didn’t score and trailed Greenland 8-0 after the first frame.
“We got off to a terrible, slow start, but we battled back at the end of the game when it mattered,” Rich said.
Scoring for Lincoln were: Ossy Escareno, 13; Morales, nine; Zach Summers, six; Cummings, five; Horacio Escareno, four; Michael Swayne, two; and Cheyenne Vaughn, two.