Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Patience And Faith Of Wolves
LINCOLN BOYS OVERCOME FIRST HALF 3-POINT BARRAGE
SPRINGDALE — Shiloh Christian did very little wrong offensively hitting six 3-pointers in the first half yet Lincoln kept running their sets eventually working their way back to a 55-50 victory.
Two days before Shiloh Christian coach Brent Hester watched Lincoln’s Garrett Blankenship put up 20 points against Berryville, commenting, “If they [Berryville] keep letting him get it in the highpost, he’s killing them,” and had the Saints playing a zone designed to keep Blankenship and Shandon Goldman from scoring in the paint. The strategy was effective early and Lincoln struggled.
Shiloh Christian opened with 3- pointers by Doug Burke and Hunter Wilson, then got free-throws from Sean Sutton and a Logan Foster bucket to score 12 unanswered points in a 4:52 span of the first quarter. Reed Lowe joined the act with 5 points including a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Saints a 17-4 lead after one quarter.
Foster’s trey 14 seconds into the second extended the margin to 20-4 and Shiloh held a 28-8 lead at the 5:34 mark of the period on Lowe’s driving layup but Lincoln kept running their offense even while shots weren’t falling.
“They kept their heads up, they kept playing, they never stopped, they never panicked,” said Lincoln coach Tim Rich. “I’m real proud of them. They did a great job.”
The Saints were still up by 20, at 35-15, when Sutton put in a Shiloh miss but over the last 3:12 of the first half the game began to change. Blankenship scored inside and Alec Pitts hit from the right wing for three points. Lowe made a free-throw for Shiloh but Lincoln was building momentum. Blankenship found Pitts cutting for a layup and Dalton Barnum spotted up for a 3-pointer with Roni Castenanda finding him at the buzzer to cap the Wolves’ 10-1 run. The surge trimmed Shiloh’s halftime lead to 36-25 and the Saints went completely cold in the third.
Shiloh, which made 9 field goals in the first half with 6 coming from 3-point range, and went 10 of 12 from the foul line could only manage a pair of Burke free-throws in the third. Meanwhile Lincoln was on a roll. Pitts’ trey was followed by Blankenship scoring inside and Goldman making all 3 free-throws after drawing a foul on the perimeter. The Saints suffered turnovers and Castenada swiped the ball turning a Saints’ in-bounds play underneath their own goal into a Wolf fast break. He was fouled and made both shots at the line.
Shiloh hauled down a defensive rebound but Pitts stole the ball and saw Castenada cutting. He was again fouled and made both giving Lincoln their first lead since 2-0 with 4:36 remain- ing in the third. Goldman competed Lincoln’s 17-0 run with a 15-feet jump-shot and the Wolves were in front, 42-38, at the end of the third.
Shiloh went scoreless for a total of 8:30 including the final 1:38 of the second quarter and the Saints continued to be cold early in the fourth quarter before putting together a 10-2 run to get within, 49-48, on Sutton’s kick-out to Lowe for an open 3-point look. Blankenship scored a layup for Lincoln and Wilson answered keeping the margin at one, 51-50, with 58 seconds showing.
Lincoln ran the clock down and Shiloh fouled. Pitts made both shots of the double bonus and the Wolves led 53-50. Hester called timeout but on the in-bounds play Goldman’s 6-feet-9 wingspan enabled a deflection and the ball was tied up. Lincoln owned the alternate possession and Shiloh had to foul again with Cord McCaslin sealing the contest with a pair of made free-throws. Lincoln won 55-50 and secured a berth in the district semifinal against No. 1 Huntsville on Friday.
“The first thing is they [ Shiloh] have got to stop hitting eventually and, second, that the kids keep playing which they did,” Rich said.
Lincoln lost to Huntsville, 59- 47, in the District 4A-1 semifinals the next day and 52-39 to No. 1 seed Arkansas Baptist in the 4A North Regional on Feb. 25 to end their season.