By T. Scott Boatright
Stephen Burks III exploded for 29 points overall — including all of the Panthers points in the opening stanza — to lead Lincoln Preparatory School to a 64-49 win over District 2-1A rival Ouachita Christian Tuesday night at the LPS Gym.
Lincoln Prep led 14-12 at the end of the opening stanza thanks to Burks’ strong start, but OCS battled back to cut the Panthers’ lead to two points at 26-24 at intermission, thanks to a pair of big dunks from Eagles post player Tate Hamby.
OCS opened the third quarter with a full-court pass to Hamby, who dunked again to tie things up only 22 seconds into the second half.
Lincoln Prep led by only one point at 40-39 heading into the fourth quarter, but the Panthers outscored the Eagles 24-10 in the final eight minutes to pull away for the win.
“You’ve got to give credit to OCS —- they came in with a pretty good game plan and man, they’ve got some tremendous athletes and play really physical,” said Panthers coach Antonio Hudson. “Fortunately we were able to withstand that and pull away at the end.”
But while he was glad to see the win, Hudson still wasn’t thrilled with the trio of dunks slammed home against his squad.
“We were lazy from the beginning,” Hudson said. “I’ve never seen a team dunk on us the way OCS did tonight. And I don’t like it. But again, it’s a testament to the fact that they’ve got some athletes. The good thing is that at the end of the day, a win is a win and we were able to pull it out. We’ve got a busy week.
“We were coming off a rivalry again over Arcadia Saturday night (a win for the Panthers), and sometimes coming off that kind of game you have a lull. We didn’t practice on Sunday, so we only had one day of practice between games.
Burks was strong in all phases, adding 11 rebounds and three steals to his scoring effort.
“He stepped up big,” Hudson said of Burks. “He’s got to trust it more, especially on a night like tonight when he got hot. “He played his tail off tonight, and that’s what I expect from a senior. He’s played hard for four years and has been around the program for six because his older brother played for us, too, so I expect him to step up in big moments and I’m proud of the way he did that tonight.”
Devin Burton also doubled-doubled for the Panthers, pouring in 14 points and pulling down 10 rebounds while Trumarion Smith added seven points and five assists for the Panthers while Armarje Young chipped in with seven points and five assists for Lincoln Prep.
The Panthers, now 12-7 overall and 3-0 in district play, make a quick return to the court tonight as they play host to Homer.
