Division III Boys : Lincoln Imitates Lakers, Wins 2 in a Row

Lincoln star Aaron Wilhite said his team was just following the lead of the Los Angeles Lakers Saturday in the Sports Arena.

By defeating Clairemont, 89-59, in the San Diego Section Division III boys’ basketball championship, Lincoln won back-to-back titles and pulled off what Wilhite described as something akin to the Lakers’ consecutive NBA championships.

“Back-to-back championships, just like the Lakers,” said Wilhite, a senior center.

Well, sort of. This was the first hurdle. Lincoln (27-1) advances to Southern Regional play and if things go according to plan, the Hornets will continue on to the State Division III final--where they lost last year, 76-71, to Daly City Jefferson.

Lincoln Coach Ron Loneski isn’t thinking that far ahead but did say: “The only thing I want to do is to win the last game we play.”

If Lincoln keeps playing as it did against Clairemont (13-16), a team it beat twice in the regular season by 20- and 23-point margins, the Hornets should fare well in the coming rounds.

The Hornets set the tone by employing their familiar full-court pressure defense and opened the first quarter with a 7-0 run.

By halftime, Lincoln led, 40-21.

“We had hoped to handle their press a little better,” said Clairemont Coach Greg Lee. “But they’re an excellent team. They destroyed us on the boards, they pursue the ball wonderfully and they have a couple of superstars who you can play good defense against and they’ll still score..”

Joe Temple, Lincoln’s leading scorer, scored 30 points.

“After playing them twice I thought they would be tougher,” he said. “In the first half we just tried to discourage them. I came out pretty sloppy, but Aaron (Wilhite) was hot at the beginning.”

Wilhite scored 15 of his 29 points in the first half. Temple had 10 points in the first two periods.

Clairemont’s Ray McDavid led all scorers with 32 points.