Santa Clara Feels the Hornets’ Sting; Lincoln Advances

Lincoln High will be in Sacramento next weekend trying to become the first boys’ basketball team from San Diego to win a state championship.

The Hornets earned that right Saturday at Cal State Dominguez Hills with an upset victory over top-seeded Oxnard Santa Clara, 62-60, in the Southern California Boys’ Division IV Regional championship game.

In next week’s state championship game, Lincoln will play Danville San Ramon, an 85-62 winner over Mt. Edens.

The Hornets (24-8) can thank Joe Evans for getting them past Santa Clara. The junior guard was the first man off the bench, and he came through with several big baskets down the stretch to finish with 18 points, six more than any other Lincoln player.

But perhaps the biggest impact he made was on a layup that he missed. On his drive with 3:15 remaining, he drew a foul from Isaiah Mustafa. It was Mustafa’s fifth and he had to leave the game after leading Santa Clara with seven fourth-quarter points. He had 13 for the game.

“Coach (Ron Loneski) told us this could be the seniors’ last game,” Evans said. “But I’m a junior and I want the seniors to go to Sacramento next week.”

So badly did Evans want that, he and teammate Akili Smith stayed home Friday night while the rest of the team attended the Green and White Ball, Lincoln’s annual formal dance.

“I stayed home so I could concentrate on this game,” Evans said.

Because of the dance, Loneski did not hold practice on Friday. Maybe Santa Clara should have taken the day off, too. The Saints (27-4) practiced, and it cost them senior guard Art Barron. Barron, who averages 16 points per game, sprained his right ankle.

With Barron went the Saints’ 17-game winning streak.

Loneski was asked about Santa Clara losing Barron, but he the Lincoln coach had a ready answer.

“Hey, I lost my best player, who fouled out,” Loneski said of his team’s leading scorer this year, Berry Randle. “That’s another part of the game. You’ve got to go with it.”

Evans acknowledged that he was especially nervous when he was put into the game midway through the first quarter, but you wouldn’t have noticed the way he was shooting. He made his first shot, a layup off a fast break, to make it 14-7 with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter, then hit his second, a three-pointer with 1:23 remaining to make it 17-9.

“After my first shot,” Evans said, “I was ready to go.”

Good thing, too, because Santa Clara had a good scouting report on the Hornets and knew what to do--shut down Randle, who averaged 17 points per game.

Randle rarely touched the ball in the first quarter and did not score until 2 1/2 minutes were gone in the second quarter.

Clearly, someone had to pick up the slack.

Besides Evans, Archie Robinson was intrumental in the initial quarter, hitting two three-pointers and finishing with eight points in the quarter and 10 in the game. But Robinson did not score again until the fourth quarter.

* CHRISTIAN GIRLS WIN

Jenny Culbertson scored 19 points, and Tiffany Stutz contributed 16 to help Christian beat Arcadia Rio Hondo Prep, 57-49, in the Southern California Division V Regional championship. C9A