LINCOLN -- Lincoln (10-15, 5-9) avenged an earlier conference loss on Feb. 13 when they defeated Prairie Grove, 50-38, in a contest played at Lincoln.
In their first matchup the defense of the Tigers (13-12, 9-5) held Shandon Goldman to a mere 3 points, but this time the All-State player led all scorers with 24 points, using his 6-feet-9 inch frame to score on the inside as well as hitting big shots from beyond the arc.
" I thought Goldman really stepped up big time tonight," said Wolves' coach Tim Rich. "He played big inside, he played big outside, he played good defense, he just played a heckuva game."
On the other side of the court Tigers coach Steve Edmonton bemoaned the play of his squad, who had already locked up the third seed in the upcoming district tournament.
"We looked like a team that really didn't have anything to play for," said Edmiston. "Anytime you get on the floor you have to compete and we simply did not do that tonight."
Lincoln held Prairie Grove to zero points in the opening period. That goose-egg was partially built by six misses from behind the arc. Goldman opened the first frame with three consecutive points and Alec Pitts concluded the stanza with a fast-break layup which staked the Wolves to a 9-0 lead.
Goldman kept up his scoring pace in the second period with 5 points and teammate Garrett Blankenship pitched in with four points in the frame. However, the Tigers got on track with 13 points in the period, led by 5 points from Parker Galligan. Galligan's teammate Leighton Smith pulled the trigger on a three ball in the waning seconds of the period, closing the gap to18-13 going into the halftime break.
A Smith steal and lay-up just moments into the third period cut the lead to 18-15, however as with every other time the Tigers made a move the Wolves found a way to answer back. Cord McCaslin answered Smith with a free-throw and a trifecta swelling the lead to 22-15. Later in the period Goldman stroked a 3-pointer that increased the cushion to 29-19. The Wolves carried that 10-point advantage into the final frame.
Prairie Grove got to within 7 points in the fourth period, but 7 points by Goldman closed the door on any Tiger aspirations of a comeback and instead propelled the Wolves to the 50-38 victory.
"When we played at their place we played very timid and soft. We talked about that, and tonight we were a ton more aggressive then we've been in weeks," Rich said.
Coming into the contest, Lincoln was winless in February having lost five in a row and falling to fifth place in the 4A-1 regular season standings. On Feb. 10 the Wolves lost at home to Gentry. The Pioneers led 7-4 five minutes into the contest and used a 6-1 run to move ahead further, 13-5. Lincoln's best offensive chance during the run was a Goldman trip to the free-throw line.
Roni Castenada came up with a steal by grabbing a loose ball when Goldman got tangled up with a Gentry cutter and both players crashed to the floor. The Wolves started a comeback and closed the gap to 19-17 with a 12-6 run of their own at the 4:52 mark of the second quarter. Four of the next six points belonged to Gentry and the Pioneers went on to steal a win at Lincoln.
Lincoln 50, Prairie Grove 38
Prairie Grove 0 13 6 19 -- 38
Lincoln 9 9 11 21 -- 50
Prairie Grove (13-12, 9-5): Galligan 14, Leighton Smith 7, Dylan Soehner 7, Tanner Pursell 4, Nick Ellis 3, Isaac Disney 2, Gavin Heltemes 1.
Lincoln (10-15, 5-9): Shandon Goldman 24, Garrett Blankenship 10, Cord McCaslin 8, Alec Pitts 4, Roni Castenda 4.
Sports on 02/25/2015