Lincoln Comes Up Short in Title Bid

Lincoln’s high-gear offense erased Salinas Palma High’s 17-point lead Friday in the State Division IV boys’ championship game at the Arco Arena.

But not downshifting in the final seconds might have cost the Hornets a chance to win.

With Salinas ahead by a point, Lincoln had a chance to win with seven seconds remaining, but an off-balance shot from the top of key by Archie Robinson fell short to give the Chieftains a 55-54 victory.

Lincoln had taken a 54-53 lead on a basket by Berry Randle with 24 seconds remaining, but Palma answered with a rebound layup by Brandon Peterson with less than 10 seconds left.

With the clock running down, Robinson took the inbounds pass and dribbled the length of the court and forced a jump shot from the top of the key.

“I looked up when I got the ball and I thought the clock read seven,” said Robinson, who finished with seven points. “I guess I just panicked because I dribbled down the court and then thought we only had two seconds left before I shot.”

Palma (29-2) was able to get the rebound after Robinson’s shot and run out the clock for its first state title.

“We played a little tight at first because I think we put too much pressure on ourselves,” said Robinson, who missed all four of his three-point shot attempts. “We tried so hard because we knew the whole San Diego community was behind us and we just couldn’t pull it off.”

Behind senior guard Chad Amaral, Palma took a 23-10 first-quarter lead, thanks to Lincoln’s inability to get good shot attempts and defensive breakdowns. With Randle, the Hornets’ leading scorer, slowed by foul trouble, Palma dominated early.

The Chieftains led, 30-13, with five minutes remaining in the second quarter before Lincoln changed from its zone-press defense to man-to-man and started to mount a comeback.

With Akili Smith providing a spark with six second-quarter points, Lincoln outscored Palma, 15-5, to close within, 35-28, at halftime.

“We knew that we are not a good team when the game is in the 50- to 60-point range,” Lincoln Coach Ron Loneski said. “We needed more of an up-tempo game. We started to get them tired, but we didn’t take advantage enough.”

With Randle scoring six points early in the third quarter before getting his fourth foul, Lincoln got as close as three points twice in the quarter. However, Palma still led, 45-40, going into the fourth quarter.

One reason why Lincoln could no take control in the second half was that it could not to stop Palma’s steady flow of back-door plays.

“We knew coming in that they were real quick and aggressive on defense,” said Amaral, who finished with 16 points and four steals. “Our game plan was to take advantage of them overplaying us and go back door.”

Lincoln continued to pressure Palma in the fourth quarter, and the Hornets took their first lead of the game, 46-45, with six minutes remaining on a jump shot by Robinson.

From there, both teams exchanged baskets until Palma opened up a five-point lead after a Joey Diaz layup with two minutes left. Again, Lincoln rallied behind baskets by Smith, who also had 10 rebounds, and Joe Evans.

Then, after a miss by Peterson, Lincoln took its final lead when Randle, who scored 16 points, powered past Peterson for a basket, setting up the game’s wild finish.

“We didn’t lose the game in the final seven seconds,” said Loneski, whose Hornets finish the season 24-9. “We lost it in the game’s first 16 minutes. We played very hard today but we just didn’t play smart.”

Palma Coach Bob Burlison said Lincoln’s pressure defense gave the Chieftains problems in the second half.

“They’re a very athletic team and even though they got down early, they kept coming back at us,” he said. “We tried to take advantage of what was a strength for them in that they pressured the whole court. We wanted to make them play defense in the half-court set because we thought if we moved it around enough, they would break down.”

It turned out to be an effective game plan. The Hornets never were able to get their offense untracked; they missed all 11 three-point shot attempts and made only 38% of their shots from the floor.

The Hornets will be returning to Lindbergh Field today (4:20 p.m.) on USAir flight 2691. School officials planned a welcoming ceremony, win or lose.