Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Lincoln Basketball Homecoming Ceremony
— Dylan McConnell beat his man off the dribble and scored a layup with 39 seconds remaining to lift Lincoln (10-10, 5-2) to a 52-50 win over Pea Ridge (15-5, 6-2) on Friday.
“Every day at practice he shows up and he works hard,” said Lincoln coach Tim Rich. “He is a ‘Yes, sir, no, sir, type of young man. He just works hard. Those are the type of young men you like to coach.”
McConnell’s bucket gave the Wolves an insurance point in the boys game of a double- header basketball homecoming conference matchup with Pea Ridge. Yet, the outcome wasn’t decided until after Pea Ridge’s unsuccessful trip to the free throw line with .09 of a second remaining.
In a nail-biting finish, Pea Ridge coach Charley Clark called timeout with 17 seconds left as Jacob Hall’s 3-pointer caromed out with Lincoln in position for the rebound. The timeout came prior to the shot and the Blackhawks retained possession. Hall got another look but again misfired from 3-point range. Tillman got the rebound and was fouled in the act of shooting, earning three free throws and a potential game-tying visit to the charity stripe, but the first attempt bounced out.
After making the second foul shot to draw Pea Ridge to within, 52-50, Tillman deliberately missed the third free throw but Ossy Escareno controlled the rebound for Lincoln and the Wolves won.
“We had a few possessions where the ball didn’t go in,” Clark said. “Offensively, we just couldn’t get a timely shot.”
Lincoln led 16-8 after the first period with a good mix of inside play and outside shooting.
“We dug a pretty big hole. Lincoln played well. They shot the ball real well in the first half,” Clark said. “In the second half they didn’t shoot as well that allowed us to get back in it defensively.”
Pea Ridge rallied from a 33-21 halftime deficit to cut Lincoln’s lead to 41-36 at the end of the third quarter but Lincoln found all the answers they needed. Each Pea Ridge score was countered in the fourth quarter as Lincoln maintained the lead.
Hall drew the Blackhawks to within, 41-38, but Colton Barnum yanked down an offensive rebound between two defenders. He sank a free throw, then Isaac Mangrum put in a Pea Ridge miss making it a 2- point game with less than a
the other team’s best player and he takes it personally. Between Hall and Pierce at Gravette, he didn’t let either of them get over 15 a game,” Thompson said. “It was one of our best defensive efforts of the year.”
Mueller sank all four of his free throw attempts in the final eight seconds to seal the game for Farmington, which won 43-39 with Brackett rejecting another 3- point attempt at the buzzer.
“Right now, the biggest thing is Josh wants the basketball at the end of the game. He has confidence in his ability to shoot it at the line,” Thompson said. “Just like at Prairie Grove he took a beating but he’s a physically strong specimen and does a good job of protecting it until they foul him.”
Garner led Farmington with 15 points while Mueller added 11.
Ha l l and Ti l lman shared scoring honors for Pea Ridge with 8 points apiece.