By T. Scott Boatright
It wasn’t pretty.
In fact, for Lincoln Preparatory School basketball coach Antonio Hudson it was ugly.
But a win is a win, that’s what Hudson’s Panthers did Monday night as they rallied for a 54-26 home win over Homer.
And yes, Lincoln Prep had to rally back in this one despite the 28 margin of victory.
That’s because the Panthers found themselves trailing 16-10 at the half.
“With the expectation levels that we have and what we’re trying to do, we’re going to have to play better,” Hudson said. “And we have to sustain that level of play for a long period of time. We can’t have the mental lapses we have sometimes. The first and third quarters have been detrimental to us all season long.
“As head coach, I’ve got to figure out a way where we can not have those kinds of lapses in play that we’ve had.
The Panthers’ bench got some added work early after Hudson sat his starters down for the rest of the stanza around three minutes into the first quarter.
“We weren’t offensively effective starting the game and then we gave up three straight layups,” Hudson said. “Just on missed rotations, missed assignments — things of that nature that just really hurt us. I just felt that we weren’t ready to play so I just put a different look out there.”
Hudson realizes that maybe it was already winning a district championship and being the No. 1 team in Class B basketball could have played a role, but he also knows his team can’t let that happen at this point in the season.
“You can’t have those kinds of moments, especially this time of year,” Hudson said. “Regardless of whether you’re playing the 2000 Lakers or you’re playing an elementary school, that can’t happen. No matter who you play, you’ve got to come out with the same energy every night. It doesn’t matter.
“Sometimes we don’t play up to our full potential, and that can’t happen ever, but especially not this time of year.”
While Jabari Levingston didn’t do his usual scoring, finishing with six points, he added 11 rebounds and 10 assists while also recording two steals and blocking a shot.
“The thing they have to understand, especially our top three guys, is that it’s a misconception that the only thing that matters is scoring,” Hudson said. “You won’t be able to score every night, but every night you can affect the game in other ways, by rebounds and defending, and tonight Jabari did that. He wasn’t scoring the ball, but with 11 assists, he was getting his teammates involved”
Senior post player Zion Hicks led the Panthers with 20 points while adding a rebound and a blocked shot.
“When he figures out how to get out of his own way, he can be really good,” Hudson said of Hicks. “He’s going to be a key in how far we go because people are going to zone in on Trey (Spann) and they’re going to zone in on Jabari. So we’ve got to get that consistent third scorer to get us over the hump.”
Junior ZJ Combs played a key role for the Panthers, scoring 15 points and pulling down three rebounds.
“ZJ has different skill sets that he brings,” Hudson said. “It’s not like he’s incredibly athletic. He’s not going to jump out of the gym. But he uses his body well and puts himself in good position. It’s kind of like watching your uncle play. If you noticed, everything he shot was like, off the glass.
“It’s that fundamental, textbook stuff that he does. He’s been in the program for three years but is just not coming into his own. He’s definitely a sleeper for us.”
Spann added six points, six rebounds, five assists, two steals and a blocked shot for the Panthers, who will close our regular season play on Friday at home against Class 5A Parkway.
