By T. Scott Boatright
After seemingly sleepwalking through the first half, the Lincoln Prep Panthers roared to life in the third quarter to roll to a 70-52 win over New Living Word Thursday night inside the LPS Gym.
The Panthers found themselves down by five at 16-11 at the end of the opening stanza before pulling within one point of the Lions at 19-18 on a Trey Spann layup with 4:40 remaining before intermission.
Jabari Levingston’s inside shot with 4:32 left in the second quarter put the Panthers on top 20-19, but New Living Word closed out the half by outscoring Lincoln Prep 11-1 to go into the locker rooms on top 30-21.
“I have to tip my hat to the Lions,” said Panthers coach Antonio Hudson. “(Coach) Javier (Roper) is already showing he’s going to be a great coach. They’ve got a young team and they didn’t back down. Just the other day they only lost to Delhi Charter by two points.
“We just came out flat. As a coaching staff, we’ve got to do a better job of preparing this team to not do that, because in certain situations, you can’t afford to do that. We didn’t practice well yesterday. We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and figure out what we’ve got to do that mentally we’re on point.”
Hudson admitted he went to his bench early and kept many reserves on the court during that first half.
“We’re getting to the point of the season where, in the playoffs, we’re going to need more people,” Hudson said. “The last few games we’ve been uncharacteristically in foul trouble because we’ve been undisciplined the last few games. Those players with less experience getting that chance to play can help us in the playoffs and down the stretch of the season.”
Hudson said his halftime talk to his team stressed one thing.
“I told them they better not lose,” Hudson said. “It was non-negotiable. Every game we have lulls in certain quarters. Typically it’s been the first and the third quarters. We tend to have to play from behind at points. We just have to figure out a way to fix that. I understand basketball is a game of runs, but our stuff has been self-inflicted. And we can’t afford that. As hard as we play, as well as we defend, we have too many empty possessions and turnovers without even getting the opportunity to shoot the basketball.
Still the Panthers didn’t tie the game up until the 3:28 mark of the third quarter and didn’t take their first lead of the half until there was only 1:14 left in the period when Spann swished a short running jump through the nets to put Lincoln Prep on top 40-38.
By the end of the third quarter, the Panthers had pushed their lead to 47-42.
After scoring 15 points in the third quarter, Spann added 10 more in the fourth to finish with 29 points while adding five rebounds, four assists and four steals.
“Trey is who he is,” Hudson said. “The thing is, I know he’s frustrated because he hasn’t been shooting the ball as well this season. All year it hasn’t been falling like he expects it to. But every game he’s defending his tail off and rebounding the basketball. So we have to try and figure out a way to generate other ways to score. And he’s got to learn to move without the ball coming off the screen.
“What I told him was, ‘When you walk into the gym, everybody’s looking to guard you.’ So, he’s got to deal with that. They’re not going to just stand out there and let him shoot open shots. He’s got to figure out ways to create better opportunities.”
Levingston added 16 points for the Panthers while totaling five boards, three assists and a steal while Zion Hicks added eight points and eight rebounds along with four assists and a steal.
Braylen Ross made the most of his time off the bench for Lincoln Prep, scoring seven points while pulling down three rebounds and making a steal.
Next up for the Panthers will be a game against Richwood at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the seventh and final game of the 2026 Michael Lyons Classic inside the LPS Gym.
Adynn Salsberry led New Living Word with 23 points while Kyron Lawson added 16.
