Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Wolves Claim OT Win At Prairie Grove
PRAIRIE GROVE — Poor freethrow shooting cost Prairie Grove dearly as Lincoln pulled off a 44-43 nonconference overtime win on the Tigers’ home-court on Dec. 8, 2020.
The Tigers made just 10-of-23 charity shots during the game.
Marco Martinez made 2-of-2 free throws with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter to put the Tigers up by three, 37-34, but Lincoln found a way to get into overtime. The Wolves quickly advanced the ball into the front-court and took timeout with 8.5 seconds remaining. Lincoln coach Tim Rich set up a play and Kyler Calvin drained a step-back three to tie the game with two seconds showing.
The Wolves won the overtime tip-off and Weston Massey sank an 18-footer from the left wing to send Lincoln ahead, 39-37. Lincoln then came up big on the defensive end. Austin Munyon denied a pass into the post and forced a Prairie Grove turnover.
Both teams then committed charging fouls, the second of which erased a basket by Landon Semrad for Prairie Grove with Munyon holding his ground in the paint.
Massey tried to create an easy shot, but his pass was too hard and caromed off the hands off a teammate on the baseline and went out-of-bounds. He made up for that miscue by stealing the ball
and going in for a layup to give the Wolves a 4-point advantage of 41-37 with 2:25 left in overtime.
Semrad answered for the Tigers with a spectacular under-handed scoop shot. Lincoln called timeout and went into a delay when play resumed. Massey got free and scored on a drive to the hoop.
Going the other way, Sloan Smith was fouled shooting a 3-pointer
and made 2-of-3 free throws before Calvin made 1-of-2 foul shots for Lincoln leaving the score, 44-41 with 23.1 seconds remaining in overtime.
The Tigers then tried to replicate what Lincoln accomplished at the end of regulation calling timeout after moving the ball into the
front- court. Smith caught the ball deep on the right wing, but couldn’t get a shot off initially. Solid defense by Lincoln forced him to take a dribble into the corner where he launched a 3-pointer with a hand in his face.
The shot wouldn’t fall and the Tigers pounded the offensive glass in desperation, but they needed three points not two. Semrad rebounded on the left side, but couldn’t score. Then Ethan Gross, who led Prairie Grove with 10 points, came down with another offensive rebound and missed from the right side with 4.3 seconds to play. Blake Gardner got a third offensive rebound and tipped the ball through the net with the clock down to 2.8 seconds.
Eli Rich, son of coach Tim Rich, took the ball out-of-bounds and secured it with his back to the court allowing time to expire with the Wolves stealing a 44-43 rivalry road win.
Both teams were cold during the first half. Prairie Grove led 4-2 after one quarter and 13-9 at intermission.
Lincoln picked up its scoring in the third quarter putting 16 points up — more than the Wolves had for the entire first half. That effort enabled the Wolves to close within 25-23 going into the fourth quarter.
Lincoln senior Daytin Davis finished with 19 points to lead all scorers, much of that coming in the second half. Massey added 10 for the victorious Wolves.
LINCOLN 44, PRAIRIE GROVE 43 OT
Lincoln 2 5 16 14 7 — 44 Prairie Grove 4 9 12 12 6 — 43 Prairie Grove (1-1): Ethan Gross 3 2-4 10, Sloan Smith 2 4-7 9, Landon Semrad 4 1-2 9, Blake Gardner 4
0-2 8, Knox Laird 2 1-2 5, Marco Martinez 0 2-6 2. Totals 15 10-23 44. Lincoln (0-1): Daytin Davis 6 5-7
19, Weston Massey 5 0-0 10, Kyler Calvin 2 1-1 6, Eli Rich 1 1-2 4, Bryce Dye 1 0-0 3, Tyler Brewer 1 0-2 2. Totals 16 7-12 44.
3-Point Goals — Prairie Grove 3 (Gross 2, Smith), Lincoln 5 (Davis 2, Rich, Calvin, Dye).