DIVISION III BOYS : Lincoln Runs Away With Win

Greg Lee knew the chances of his Clairemont boys’ basketball team beating Lincoln for the San Diego Section Division IV championship would be slim. He was more concerned with making sure his Chieftains had a good time Thursday at the San Diego Sports Arena.

Clairemont lost to the Hornets, 92-61, as Lincoln (21-8) claimed its fifth consecutive section title and second in row in Division IV. The 31-point loss was no surprise to Clairemont (11-13), which also lost to Lincoln, 89-59, in the 1989 final.

The surprise was this: before Lincoln turned this game into a rout, Clairemont’s John Price and Bryan Tower swished two three-point shots to give the Chiefs two early leads, 5-3 and 8-4.

Both teams were hot in a first quarter that featured little defense but a lot of nice jump shots. For one period--with Lincoln outscoring the Chiefs, 27-20, it was a ballgame.

“The first quarter was quite competitive,” Lee said. “We like to play at their pace. It’s just that they rebound about two feet higher than us.”

Clairemont couldn’t stop Lincoln forward Berry Randle, who had a game-high 27 points on 11-for-15 shooting from the field. Teammate Hosa Baker finished with 17, making eight of 12 from the floor, and the Hornets as a team shot 53% for the game.

Hornets Coach Ron Loneski gave credit to Clairemont for its effort but said he wished he could have entered his team in the Division I tournament.

“We played a little bit sloppy, but we had our moments,” he said. “Games like this aren’t going to help us (in next week’s Southern California Regionals). I’m looking at games in L.A. that are 69-67.”

Clairemont started to fall back to earth late in the period.

It was a gradual descent at first. The Chiefs, despite being outscored, 18-7, in the second quarter, were still a few three-point shots from getting back into the game.

The score at halftime: 45-27. And by the end of the third period, Clairemont’s descent had turned into a sky-dive minus the parachute.

A 20-8 run by the Hornets made the lead 33 points, 72-39, after three quarters. The lead twice grew to 38 in the fourth quarter as the Chiefs found they could neither shoot nor rebound with Lincoln’s reserves.

Randle, a senior who averaged 18 points and 13.3 rebounds during the regular season, sparked Lincoln with five points and seven rebounds in the second period, after the Chiefs’ early “scare.”

“It caught us off guard when they beat the press,” Randle said. “Some of our guys started kind of lax, but that woke us up. I think we’re good enough to win state.”

Lee will agree.

“They have a tremendous team,” Lee said. “We were just excited about getting to play in a big-time arena. We have no regrets.”