By T. Scott Boatright
In a game that looked more like a defensive showdown on the gridiron than a Division IV Select School second round boys playoff game, top seeded Lincoln Preparatory School held on to a 37-21 over Block Tuesday night inside the LPS Gym.
The Panthers and Bears bumped and banged throughout the contest with Block actually scoring first on a Caleb Henderson layup 1:22 into the game.
Lincoln Prep then slowly scored seven unanswered points before the Bears’ Dominique Atkins hit a buzzer-beating short jumper to cut Lincoln Prep’s lead to 7-4 at the end of the opening stanza.
For Panthers coach Antonio Hudson, his feelings about the game boiled down to one simple point.
“We’ve got to play better,” Hudson said. “We defended. We defended from the start. But we just go through spells where we struggle to score. We’ve focused on that — not having those frequent possessions where we just struggle to score and we’re just too loose with the basketball.”
The discombobulated, frenetic play continued for the Panthers in the second quarter, with Lincoln Prep building no more than a nine-point advantage before the Bears would battle back as they ended up trailing 16-12 at the half.
“You’re not going to have a great game every game in basketball,” Hudson said. “But by the same token, you’ve got to try and control the narrative of what you can control. We cannot turn the ball over more than 20 times against a team that’s playing mostly zone. We cannot afford to turn the ball over against a team that’s playing us in zone (defense). That’s just unacceptable.
“We’ve got to get quality shots at the goal. We’ve got to get quality possessions every time. In the playoffs, every single possession matters. We just can’t go through a few possessions where we don’t get anything out of them. We’re got to control that kind of thing. That’s our job.”
Lincoln Prep pushed its lead to eight points at 18-12 on a Josiah Spann layup 28 seconds into the third quarter before Zion Hicks hit a baby hook in front of the basket off an assist by Trey Spann at the 5:40 mark of the third quarter.
A short running jumper by Hicks pushed the Panthers’ advantage to 10 points at 24-14 with 1:58 left in the period before the Bears hit a free throw to cut Lincoln Prep’s lead to 24-15 heading into the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers went into a deliberate offensive slowdown, using quick, deliberate passing to try and keep the ball away from the Bears and chew time off the clock.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to slow it down and cherish the possession,” Hudson said. “I can’t stress enough. There was one time in the second quarter where we had the ball six possessions and didn’t even get a shot off. That’s unacceptable. That’s not a championship team.
“Everybody looks at the No. 1 (Lincoln Prep’s seeding in the playoffs) and think that’s something good. No. 1 just means that you’ve got a bigger target on your back than everyone else. So, we’re going to take the best shots everyone can give us.”
The play of the game came with around 2:30 remaining with the Panthers on top 33-19.
Lincoln Prep’s Kaden Vernon found himself with a turnover and a wide open path to the basket.
Vernon pushed the ball forward looking like he was going in for the layup before turning around and backing the ball back out to milk the clock even more, much like a football player having an easy touchdown ahead before sitting down on the 2-yard line to chew more time off the clock.
“He’s coming along — he understands and is playing really well for us right now at the right time,” Hudson said of Vernon. “I appreciate that. You know, at the beginning of the season, he’d have pushed the ball down in there and would have tried to shoot it off the glass.
“But look at that play — he did what he had to do and we still ended up turning the ball over. It doesn’t make sense, man.”
Hudson said he wasn’t totally surprised by the way Block stayed in the contest despite the seeding disparity.
“One thing — Block really wasn’t a 17 seed,” Hudson said. “I don’t care what their record says. Even with their size. They’re young and they’ll be back. We were just blessed to pull off this win. But we’ve got to play better moving forward.”
Sophomore Jabari Levingston led the Panthers with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Trey Spann added seven points and Zaviour Combs chipped in with five.
Next up for the Panthers will be a game against ninth-seeded Ouachita Christian, which went on the road and pulled off a 51-28 win over eighth seeded Ascension Episcopal.
