The Lincoln boys team just didn’t come to play in the first game of the Vegas Invitational Dec. 29-30 at Mountain View Christian. At least not according to coach Matt Cameron.
Their first match was with Division IV powerhouse Spring Mountain, who have a tall team this season. “They came to play and we didn’t,” Cameron said of the 61-47 loss. “We were playing afraid, timid and lazy, and I told the boys that during one of the early breaks, but it didn’t really change too much. Spring Mountain (8-5) also shot better than I have ever seen them shoot. It wasn’t a good game for us.”
Steve Jones scored a game high 28 points for the Eagles, including connecting on five three-pointers. He had 18 points in the first half to make it a 28-19 halftime lead for Spring Mountain.
McClain O’Connor had a team-high 16 points for Lincoln County, which got 12 points from Derek Shumway and 10 points from Mike Wood.
Lincoln was 7-for-13 at the foul line, and Spring was 10-for-14.
Monday night, Lincoln played Brethren Christian of Huntington Beach, Calif., and only lost a four-point game 40-36.
Wood and Shumway each scored 11 points for Lincoln County (3-6), which trailed 24-12 at halftime, but rallied in the second half.
Josh Duren had 17 points to lead the Warriors (2-9).
It came down to offense Cameron said. “We needed to score and we couldn’t. We just had a rough time scoring.”
Lincoln made a run in the third quarter to tie the score at 27. “We came out better and beat them in the second half with better execution, we just couldn’t score at the end when we needed to.”
In the first game Tuesday, Lincoln (3-7) lost 48-41 to Sage Hill of Newport Beach, Calif.
Cameron said the team played much better this game. “They talked, they communicated on defense and moved the ball better on offense and hit our shots, took care of the ball and played well on the defensive end.”
He said the Lynx pulled within two points with about four minutes left, but missed key shots afterwards. “It was a good game for us.”
Later that same day, Fairmont Prep of Anaheim, Calif., had four men in double figures, led by Allan Tap with 19, to down the Lynx 59-42. McClain O’Connor had 16 points for Lincoln. The Lynx really struggled Cameron noted in the second and third quarters with only 15 points in that span.
And, in the first game of the new year, Lincoln lost to Enterprise, Utah 72-37. The Wolves hammered the Lynx in the second half 46-19. Issac Wallin led Enterprise (6-6) with 27 points, followed by Travis Dougherty with 14. Lincoln’s top scorer was not reported.
Lincoln (5-9, 2-2) gets back into league play this weekend with a home game tonight against Needles (9-3, 2-2) and Saturday against Laughlin (3-3, 0-3), which is at l:30 p.m.
