Trailing 69-63 with 40 seconds left, something snapped for the Lincoln County boys basketball team, and they went on a 7-1 run, tied the game on Derek Shumway’s buzzer beater basket, then followed through in the overtime period for a thrilling 81-72 win at The Meadows last Saturday.
It keeps Lincoln (11-11, 10-3) just one game back of The Meadows Mustangs (14-5,-10-2) in the standings and going into another important road game Friday at Needles (13-7, 6-6). The Lynx beat Needles in Panaca 47-44 in overtime.
In addition, both Lincoln and The Meadows still have to play unbeaten league leader and defending Division III state champion Agassi (18-0, 12-0).
Lynx coach Matt Cameron said Shumway has been in a bit of a slump as of late, but he certainly broke out of it in dramatic fashion with his late game heroics.
Shumway connected from the right elbow to send the game into overtime, then scored five of Lincoln County’s 11 points after regulation to help the Lynx rally for the win. “We know Derek can finish,” Cameron said. “We just kept feeding him the ball and he came through tonight. He can be a streak shooter, six, seven, eight in a row. “
Lincoln County trailed 69-63 with 40 seconds left, closed the quarter with a 7-1 run, starting with two free throws by Charlie Scott.
Meadows then turned the ball over on its next two possessions, resulting in a free throw by Preston Robbins and a layup by McClain O’Connor with 12.3 seconds left to pull the Lynx to within 69-68.
But the Mustangs then only made one of two foul shots, and O’Connor drove the length of the floor before passing to Shumway for the tying basket as time expired. “I didn’t realize the time of the game,” he said, “I just drove in and shot it.”
That was a momentum swing, and Shumway, who finished with 17 points, started overtime with a long jumper, and followed with a 3-pointer a minute later for a 76-70 lead.
O’Connor shot 6-for-8 from the line in overtime and the Lynx outscored The Meadows 11-2 in overtime.
Mike Wood made six 3-pointers and finished with 25 points and 10 rebounds for Lincoln County. O’Connor had 24 points, seven steals and four assists, and Robbins scored 13.
The Meadows’ Jake Epstein scored 17 of his 27 points in the second half, and Max Hisatake had 17 points and 19 rebounds. Ethan Fridman finished with 14 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals for the Mustangs.
Last Friday, at Calvary Chapel, McClain O’Connor had 20 points to help the Lynx hold off the Lions 51-46. The victory clinched one of the four spots in the league playoffs for Lincoln. The Southern Division III playoffs will be Feb. 20-21 at Spring Valley High in Las Vegas.
Mike Wood added 12 points for Lincoln County, which led 39-31 after three quarters.
Matthew Harney had 19 points, and teammate Killian Diers scored 10 for Calvary Chapel.
