San Diego High School Basketball : Willie Davis and Morse Quiet Lincoln’s Home With Victory

The Morse High School boys’ basketball team was greeted by a raucous, standing-room-only crowd that had started warming its vocal cords 45 minutes before tipoff Friday night at Lincoln.

The Lincoln faithful were waiting for Morse, the defending 3-A champion. But Morse guard Willie Davis was waiting for them, too.

Davis made a three-point jumper on his first shot of the game to quiet the crowd and help Morse get off to a fast start. Then he quieted any hopes of a Lincoln comeback by scoring 13 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Tigers to a 78-71 nonleague victory.

Morse, ranked seventh in San Diego County, is 9-5. Lincoln, ranked second, is 13-2.

“I had a feeling it was going to be my night when I hit that first three-pointer,” said Davis, a senior. “We’ve been playing on the road a lot, and we were prepared to come in here and win.”

Morse hasn’t played a home game this season, and the Tigers’ experience on the road showed Friday night.

After Davis hit his first three-pointer, Morse went on a 12-4 run to take a 15-4 lead. The Tigers’ defense kept Lincoln off balance--the Hornets had 11 first-quarter turnovers.

Lincoln, not Morse, appeared to be rattled by the large crowd.

“Our plan was to switch from a box-in-one (on Lincoln guard Carl Gaines) to a 1-3-1 trap and try to confuse them,” Morse Coach Ron Davis said.

Gaines was limited to six points in the first half, and Lincoln’s other big scorer, forward Roger Johnson, was limited to two first-half points after picking up three fouls in the first four minutes. As a result, Morse was able to open a 39-27 halftime lead.

In the second half, Gaines and Johnson led a Lincoln rally. Gaines scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Johnson had 14 second-half points as Lincoln closed to within two, 67-65, with 2:43 left.

But Davis had saved his best for the stretch run. On three trips down the floor, he went one-on-one against Lincoln sophomore John McCartney, and three times he scored on driving layups as Morse widened its lead to 75-69 with 50 seconds remaining.

“I had a good feeling, and I kept seeing the openings to the basket,” Davis said. “I just wanted it.”

Marcus Combs, the only other returning player from Morse’s championship team last season, had 15 points and Mark Lawrence added 14. Johnson finished with 16 points for Lincoln, and center Aaron Wilhite and forward Bernard Dickerson each scored 9.