BOYS’ BASKETBALL DIVISION III : Lincoln Proves Its Point

Lincoln coaches and players didn’t think there was any controversy to it. Nope, it was cut and dried: They were the No. 1 boys’ basketball team in Division III.

Only thing was, no one agreed. They were billed second to top-seeded USDHS in the playoffs.

During the preliminary games, they let that gnaw at them. Coach Ron Loneski used it for motivation, and when it came time to decide who really was No. 1 Thursday night at Golden Hall, Lincoln soundly embarrassed USDHS in the section final, 83-66.

“Yeah, they were favored,” Loneski said. “Everyone was saying they were better than we are, and you just don’t say that to our kids. They’re sick and tired of hearing it.”

But they had to listen, because early in the season, USDHS beat Lincoln, 71-67. Yes, the Dons were better. They had proved it.

And then they disproved it. In the first quarter, Lincoln controlled the boards at both ends in taking a 16-8 lead.

And then it got ugly. Lincoln opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run, during which guard John McCartney scored six points and assisted on two baskets.

Just two minutes into the second, it was 27-10.

Almost as quickly, USDHS put together a string of its own to pull within nine. But it was a quarter of streaks. After the Dons made it 27-18, Lincoln scored 13 consecutive points.

Ouch. 40-18.

Clearly, the earlier game was some sort of aberration.

Not really, said USDHS Coach Jim Tomey.

“The differences were we didn’t attack (Thursday) the way we did then,” he said.

But there was more to it than that, Lincoln players were saying.

“That was our low point of the season,” said senior guard Ken Garner of the first game with USDHS. “No one was pressuring out there, and everyone was playing as an individual.

“Now we’re a family, and when we play as a team, we’re going to win.”

But if there was one player among the Hornets who did put on an individual show, it was Garner himself.

A 13.6-points-per-game scorer during the regular season, Garner nearly doubled that average Thursday with 26. What’s more, he pulled down 14 rebounds, eight on offense.

He credited the numbers to a coaching decision. Last week, Loneski told him to start going underneath and grabbing rebounds. Before that, he was strictly an outside shooter.

Now about that No. 1 seeding. Tomey insists that Loneski, too, thought USDHS deserved it.

“He called me up before the pairings meeting and asked me who I thought should be No. 1,” Tomey said. “I told him I thought we should be, and he agreed. Then he comes into the (seeding) meeting and complains about how he should be the No. 1 seed.

“He just did that as a motivational thing.”

It worked.