Mark Humphrey Game Journal

With Lincoln leading by one, Tyler Cummings was violently undercut after grabbing an offensive rebound but after a time-out the officials sent Justin Brewer to the foul line instead.

The play came thirty- two seconds after Ossy Escareno’s 3- pointer gave Lincoln a 29-28 lead over Ozark with 2:26 to go in the fourth quarter.

Cummings never got his free throws, yet, poetic justice was served.

Brewer made both and Cummings scored eight points in overtime lifting Lincoln to a 55-44 win and assuring the Wolves of the 4A-1 Conference title on Feb. 11.

If the powers that be were trying to rattle Lincoln by drawing their coach into a frenzy, the strategy was ineffective.

“I was just going to sit there. I wasn’t really worried about it. I had confidence in both of them to make the free throws,” said Lincoln coach Tim Rich. “Tyler hit 5- of- 6 free throws in overtime and he nails that three. That one gave me gray hairs but it went in.”

The shot from the right wing gave Lincoln a 44- 38 cushion with 2:36 left in overtime as the Wolves finished strong in contest that had been nip- and- tuck throughout.

Escareno’s trey from the top-ofthe-key to start the second quarter broke an 11-11 deadlock, then Ozark went on a 14-4 run to claim a 25-19 halftime lead.

Another Escareno 3- pointer tied the game at 26- all midway through the third period, which ended with Lincoln holding a 31-30 edge.

Payton Hulse finished a drive by banking in a shot and Dylan McConnell nailed a 3-pointer to put Lincoln up, 36- 30, but the Wolves were outscored 8-2 over the last 5: 30 as Ozark tied the game, at 38-all.

With time about to expire Hulse got an offensive rebound in front of the rim but had his arms pinned to his sides by the Hillbil- lies with a referee underneath the goal watching.

No foul was called despite the clear advantage gained by Ozark’s holding on the play and the game went into overtime.

“They wanted to let the players end it,” Rich said. “We had no control over that [no call]. We can’t control everything, except our attitude and effort. They stepped up and played in overtime.”

Escareno asserted himself driving into the paint and scoring on a high- percentage close- range shot to put Lincoln ahead, 40-38, on the Wolves’ first possession of the bonus period. He then stole the ball and Hulse added a foul shot.

“When you need something to happen seems like he [Escareno] steps up,” Rich said. “He’s always there.”

The teams then experienced opposite results on 3-point shots. Cole Yell’s trey bounced out for Ozark while Tyler Cummings’ trifecta singed the nets.

A Hillbilly traveling violation led to Brewer’s lay- up. Ozark again turned the ball over and Cummings converted both shots of the double bonus while Ozark missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Hulse nailed two free throws to complete a 10- 0 Lincoln run before Yell got Ozark on the scoreboard in overtime with a 3-pointer.

After another Yell trey, Cummings sank a technical free throw followed by Shandon Goldman’s charity shots to ice the game. Lincoln claimed the 2014 4A-1 Conference title with a 13-3 record in league play.

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