DIVISION IV BOYS : Lincoln Survives Anxious Moments, Union Rally to Win

There it was, the largest lead of the game--seven points--and Lincoln had just forged it over Washington Union with a half-minute remaining as Scott Hammond sunk one of two free throws.

In a game in which there were 17 lead changes, seven points looked like an avalanche. So Lincoln decided to tuck its lead in its back pocket. The Hornet players began congratulating each other, waving fists in the air, slapping double high-fives.

The only thing standing in the way of a Lincoln victory in the first round of the Division IV Southern California Regionals was this small matter of the remaining 32 seconds. Little did they know that their 71-67 victory was anything but assured.

Twenty-five seconds were used by Washington Union to whittle the margin to five and then to two on a desperation three-pointer from well behind the arc by Tod Tompkins.

Uh-oh.

“After he made that three-pointer,” Lincoln’s Archie Robinson said, “oh, my heart . . . it just sunk.”

It sunk a little further when with four ticks remaining Tompkins fouled Robinson in the back court.

After a timeout, Robinson headed toward the free-throw line, listening all the way to his opponents tell him how he was going to miss, just as he did on the front-end of a one-and-one 13 seconds before to set the stage for Tompkins’ three-pointer.

“You’re going to send us to L.A.,” they told Robinson, a reference to the site of the Southern California Regionals championship game.

“They kept saying that,” Robinson said. “I just didn’t want to let my teammates down.

“On the sideline during the timeout I was shaking. I was shaking until I got on the floor. Then I calmed down.”

He calmed down all right. Robinson made the first free throw--”It was the most incredible free throw of my life,” he said--hit the second and sent Lincoln (22-8) on to the second round of the playoffs.

Thus, for the first time in four years Lincoln won at home in the first round of the regionals.

“In the locker room at halftime,” Lincoln Coach Ron Loneski said. “I told the kids ‘don’t let this one get away from you. We have to win a playoff game here--this is our gym.”

Washington Union finished at 21-7.