By T. Scott Boatright
GRAMBLING — Forget about regulation play, it was all about overtime as the Lincoln Prep Panthers played host to Ringgold Friday night in a District 1-1A showdown inside the LPS gym.
And an extra four minutes wasn’t enough, it took two extra periods to decide this contest.
But three straight turnovers to start the second OT period was too much for Lincoln Prep to overcome as the Panthers fell 63-59, dropping to 17-7 overall and 2-1 in district play.
“That was tough,” Hudson said. “We let one get away. But (our) hat’s off to them. They came here and played hard and did everything they needed to do to pick up a win on the road.”
The game was tied at 48-48 at the end of regulation after the Panthers roared out to a 12-4 advantage in the first 4:36 of the contest and led 19-9 by the end of the opening stanza.
They pushed that lead to 21-9 at the 5:59 mark of the second stanza on an Amarje Young layup before Ringgold went on an 11-2 run the rest of the second quarter to cut Lincoln Prep’s lead to three points at 23-20 at halftime.
Ringgold led 34-33 heading into the final eight minutes of regulation play and outscored the Panthers 15-14 in the fourth quarter to push the game to overtime.
Lincoln Prep trailed 54-51 with 21.5 seconds left in the first OT period but a long 3-pointer that left Trey Spann’s hands with less than a second left hit nothing but net as the game headed to a second overtime tied at 56-56.
Ringgold scored four points after Lincoln Prep turned the ball over three straight times to go up 60-56 with 2:40 left in that stanza.
“Trey made a big shot to push the game to another overtime, but then we turned the ball over three straight times,” Hudson said. “It was one of those self-inflicted deals that have cost us every game we’ve lost this season. I’ve said before, if we could put a whole game together we’d be pretty good.
“But we didn’t do that tonight. And it cost us.”
Lincoln Prep cut the Redskins’ lead to 62-59 on a Young free throw with 1:36 remaining, but Ringgold stretched its led to four points on a free throw with 19.3 seconds on the clock and made sure not to foul on another last second 3-point try by Spann that failed to hit anything to escape with the win.
Young led the Panthers with 17 points while adding seven steals, three assists and two rebounds while Spann totaled 14 points, five boards, five steals and an assist.
Devin Burton double-doubled for the Panthers, totaling 10 points and 13 rebounds along with four assists, two steals and a blocked shot while Jabari Levington added nine points, five boards, four assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
The Panthers also got five points, six rebounds, five steals and three assists from Frediron Payne and four points, nine boards and an assist from Zion Hicks.
A big part of the Panthers’ loss was that they made only one-of-20 from 3-point range.
“The thing is, we take a lot of stuff for granted,” Hudson said. “And that’s not on them, it’s on me and our coaching staff. Mostly on me. I’ve got to figure out a way to motivate this team so we can continue to get better. But at the same time, they have to receive and accept that challenge.
“We’ve got to get in the gym and get more shots up so there’s no excuse not to shoot the ball better than we are. We just need to go in (to practice) and work.”
Next up for the Panthers will be a District 2-1A game against Homer on Monday.
