THE BIG GAME / LINCOLN 85, SAN DIEGO 76 : Lincoln Turnaround Turns Off San Diego

There’s nothing like scoring the first 10 points of the second half to:

--Get the coach off your back about missing 13 of 25 free throws in the first half.

--And get the other guys’ coach on their backs because they just blew a six-point halftime lead.

In the biannual melee between San Diego High and Lincoln, it was Lincoln looking like losers in the first half, only to do an about-face and end up with an 85-76 victory over No. 1-ranked San Diego.

Lincoln Coach Ron Loneski was not surprised.

“One thing about Lincoln basketball teams,” Loneski began his post-game analysis, “is that traditionally they never give up. They will fight back from anything.”

At least that holds true in Central League play. With Friday night’s home victory, Lincoln has won 33 consecutive league games--a streak that is into its sixth year.

The latest victory was won in the first four minutes of the third quarter. That’s when Lincoln went on its 10-0 run.

Hosa Baker started things by driving inside and muscling past San Diego’s J.R. Greer and Mike Watson for two. John Akridge then stole a pass, started a fast break, and dished off to Archie Robinson for an easy layup. Seconds later, Robinson got the ball again and this time dropped it through from long range. Akridge was next. First he got a steal and layup. He then finished the avalanche with an outside jumper with 4:18 remaining in the quarter.

San Diego, which led with 2:32 in the first half until that midway point in the third quarter, never led again.

Akridge finished with 16, but was outdone by Robinson’s 20.

In fact, it was Robinson who kept San Diego at an arm’s length in the fourth quarter when he aimed eight free throws and hit nothing but net on every one for eight points.

That performance contrasted starkly to his team’s free-throw shooting in the first half.

“Coach just told us to concentrate and they’d go in,” Robinson said about Loneski’s halftime pep talk.

Loneski, however, told another story.

“I got all over them,” he said. “I was really mad. They just played sloppy ball. It was like they were asleep out there.”

But what really woke up Lincoln was the thought of losing that streak.

“One thing we don’t want to do is lose that streak,” Robinson said. “Especially to San Diego, because they do a lot of talking, and if we had lost, we would have heard about it for the rest of the year.”