By Malcolm Butler
Lincoln Prep coach Antonio Hudson knows he has a group that can play up-tempo.
And on Tuesday night, Hudson unleashed his Panthers in the second and fourth quarters as Lincoln Prep scored 47 points in those two periods en route to a 73-41 win over Cedar Creek.
With the victory, Lincoln Prep (15-7, 5-0) captured the District 2-1A title.
However, the win and the district championship didn’t come without some teaching moments for Hudson and his young Panthers.
Leading 43-16 at the half, Lincoln Prep came out slow in the third quarter, committing turnovers that led to easy buckets by Creek as the Cougars (12-11, 1-4) closed to within 43-30 after scoring the first 14 points of the third quarter.
Hudson called a timeout and ultimately bench his starters for a period of minutes.
“It’s been a consistent thing all year,” said Hudson. “We have to execute when we get to a certain point. We were up by 25 at half and we come out and we force them to guard us man-to-man and then we do things out of character. What I expressed to them at halftime is that when you are trying to win on the road in the playoffs, you have to be able to do those things.
“It does us not good to try to run the score up and do all of that when we have to get better at executing (in the halfcourt). Who knows in the playoffs we may need the second string. We have some work we have to do with them to because they came in and turned the ball over five straight times.”
After inserting his starters back into the game, the Panthers began to pull away again. Despite scoring just seven points in the third quarter and leading 50-35 entering the fourth, Lincoln Prep used it speed and athleticism to get paint point after paint point in the fourth quarter with Stephen Burks leading the way.
The Panthers outscored Creek 23-6 in the fourth quarter to pull away for the win.
Hudson admitted that he demanded half court execution and discipline from his team, knowing it will take that to make a deep run in the playoffs.
“It’s a tale of our season,” said Hudson. “We started out the season trying to run, trying to press, trying to get up and down the floor, but we struggled. Once we started to slow it down and pull the reins back and try to execute more we started to play better. I guess it’s a good thing we can do both, but there comes a point in every game where you have to execute. And that’s where we struggle at times.”
Amarje Young led Lincoln Prep with 21 points while Burks added 20 points. Trey Spann netted 14, including three three-pointers.
The Panthers end district play Thursday night at OCS while Cedar Creek wraps up district action Thursday at home against St. Frederick.
