BASKETBALL PREVIEWS : DIVISION III BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP : Lincoln vs. USDHS to Show Whether Seeding Was Right

Ron Loneski, Lincoln’s basketball coach, had to sit through the San Diego Section playoff seeding meeting almost two weeks ago listening to all the Division III coaches tell him how USDHS should be No. 1.

Loneski thought his team deserved top billing, but he really didn’t have an argument. Earlier, USDHS had beaten Lincoln, 71-67.

So after the season was over, Loneski had to sit tight . . . and wait.

That wait is over. Lincoln and USDHS moved through their brackets of the Division III playoffs and will meet tonight (7:30) at Golden Hall in the championship game.

Loneski now says he is happy that things worked out the way they did.

“I’d rather play a team that beat us,” he said. “Rather than a team we beat. This way we don’t have to worry about the overconfidence factor.”

USDHS (16-6) won’t be worrying about it, either. The Dons are well aware that since beating Lincoln Jan. 9, the Hornets (21-8) have won 12 in a row.

“I don’t have to tell my kids much about them,” said Jim Tomey, USDHS’s coach. “We don’t key on our opponents, we try to key on what we do best.”

The Dons pride themselves on strong man-to-man defense. In their semifinal against St. Augustine Wednesday night, that defense began to wear on the Saints, who repeatedly turned the ball over in the third quarter as USDHS seemingly started a fast-break drill and blew the game open.

But defense may not be the Dons’ strong point. They feature a balanced offense in which no one player dominates but in which several regularly score in double figures.

Peter Ellis, a 6-foot-3 senior forward, leads the team with a 16.3-point average. He is supported by Brian Duplessis, a 6-3 senior forward; Eric Barajas, a 6-0 junior guard and Dave Withers, a 6-2 junior forward.

USDHS may not be able to pressure Lincoln on defense the way it did St. Augustine. Lincoln is a much quicker team, and according to both Loneski and players, it is now a cohesive one, in contrast to what it put on the floor Jan. 9.

“We’ve picked it up a little since then,” Loneski said. “And our kids think they have a lot to prove. University is in for a struggle when they play us because our kids are tired of hearing that Uni is No. 1.”

Like USDHS, Lincoln is well-balanced on offense. If guards Kenny Garner or Victor Dean aren’t hot on the outside, then center Darryl McMillan or forward Andre Toussaint grab the missed shots and put them back up.

McMillan averages 20.3 points, Dean 14.9 and Garner 13.6.

Championship Notes

The section will break from tradition by charging separate admissions for two sessions Friday at Golden Hall. One will be charged for three afternoon games--Holtville vs. Coronado (Division IV girls) at noon; Coronado vs. Imperial (Division IV boys) at 2 p.m., and La Jolla Country Day vs. Christian (Division V girls) at 4. The gym will then be cleared, and admission will be charged for Mt. Carmel vs. Santana (Division I girls) at 6:30 and Sweetwater vs. Mt. Carmel (Division I boys) at 8:30. General admission for each session is $3 for students and $4 for adults. Reserved seats are $5 for students, $6 and $7 for adults.