By T. Scott Boatright
HAYNESVILLE — The proverbial “ball” bounced in favor of the Lincoln Preparatory School Panthers Tuesday night as a late score and defensive stand in the final seconds allowed them to escape with a 47-46 District 1-1A road win at Haynesville.
That came after Lincoln Prep started strong and built a 18-10 advantage by the end of the first quarter before the Golden Tornado stormed back to cut the Panthers’ lead to one point at 24-23 at the half.
“It was tougher than it needed to be,” said Lincoln Prep coach Antonio Hudson of his team’s win. “But to pull out a win in a district game on the road — that’s always a good thing.”
The way the first half played out wasn’t anything new for Hudson and his Panthers.
“It’s been that way for most of our games,” Hudson said. “I think to myself that we must be pretty good coaches in the first quarter, but I don’t know where my head must go in the second quarter.
“That’s something we’re still trying to figure out — how to put together full complete quarters. And it’s not on the kids, it’s on me. So we’ve got to figure out what we’ve got to do to keep them motivated. I don’t know if it’s the rotations, or back-up rotations, but it’s something.”
The second half stayed tight all the way down to the finish.
Lincoln Prep found itself down by two to four points much of the fourth quarter before pulling it out in the final seconds.
“I believe in the basketball gods and they were looking out for us in that game,” Hudson said. “That’s really all I can say.
“We’re down by four and it was either Frediron (Payne) or Trey (Spann) that hit a 3-pointer that pulled us to within one (point). Then we got a putback score that put us up by one. Haynesville called timeout and then had about four attempts at the rim. We didn’t block out, we didn’t finish like we should have. But (Haynesville’s) shots didn’t fall.”
The Panthers had three players score in double figures, with Spann leading the way with 11 points while Devin Burton and Zion Hicks hit for 10 each.
Spann also recorded a pair of rebounds and a blocked shot while Burton led the Panthers with eight rebounds while adding a pair of steals and a blocked shot.
Hicks also had a blocked shot along with eight points, five boards, three assists and a blocked shot while Payne totaled eight points, four rebounds and four steals.
Jabari Levingston added four points, seven rebounds, seven assists and a block for the Panthers while EJ Owens chipped in with four points, three rebounds and three steals.
“We came out with a victory on the road against an undefeated Haynesville team, and it’s always tough to play there. It’s not necessarily that they’re basketball players. But they’re athletes. That team is so long with at least three guys that are 6-5 or taller.”
There are eight teams in 1-1A, meaning the Panthers only play each 1-1A team once in a game counting as a district contest.
“It’s always good to jump out to a good start in district play so you’re not fighting from behind,” Hudson said. “Right now it’s especially about power points. We have some real good teams in our district, but the district is so tough and plays tough schedules, so it’s one where teams might not have as many wins, and with power points, you don’t get as many points against those teams that don’t have as many wins than in a district that has teams that have won more non-district games.
“So to go on the road and beat Jonesboro (the Panthers defeated Jonesboro-Hodge in their 1-1A opener), and to go on the road and beat Haynesville, which was undefeated before our game, that’s big.”
Things won’t get any easier on Friday when the Panthers (17-6 overall and 2-0 in 1-1A) play host to Ringgold, the only other undefeated team in the district at 2-0.
The Redskins stand at 7-15 overall.
“Ringgold is well-coached,” Hudson said. “And it’s the same thing as Haynesville — they have scrappy athletes.
“One thing about us is that everybody tends to give us their best shot. And I don’t expect anything less than that Friday night against Ringgold.”
