The Lincoln County boys basketball team took firm hold of a third place finish in the league this year as they go into the final week of the Southern Division III season. They did so by means of two wins on the road last week, including an exciting 46-44 victory at Needles.
That gives the Lynx two wins over the Mustangs this season. They had a 47-44 overtime win in Panaca in January.
Coach Matt Cameron said, “Either one of this past weekend’s games would have put a lock on third place, but it was nice to get two wins. We played good defensively, offensively we struggled a little bit.”
McClain O’Connor had 18 points and Derek Shumway added 11 points for Lincoln County, which trailed Needles 32-29 after three quarters, but made 10 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter, 11-for-19 in the game (58 percent). Up until that time however, the Lynx were only 1-for-5 at the line. The Mustangs were 12-for-25 at the stripe (48 percent).
Devin Darrow and Michael Chavez each had 11 points for Needles (15-8, 8-7), which had a potential game-winning 3-pointer hit the front of the rim as time expired.
On Saturday, in Laughlin, Shumway scored 20 points to help the Lynx pull away from the Cougars for a 60-36 win. Lincoln has beaten Laughlin eight times in a row.
O’Connor added 17 points for Lincoln County, which led 30-26 at the half.
Corey Anderson paced Laughlin (3-19, 0-14) with 15 points.
The Lynx (13-11, 12-3) have one final game on the regular season, tonight at Agassi Prep (20-0, 14-0), the defending league and Division III state champion.
The Meadows (15-6, 11-3), currently tied with Lincoln for second place, has two more games, with Lake Mead (7-20, 3-12) and at Mountain View (13-14, 7-7).
The four-team league tournament begins Feb. 20 at Spring Valley High in Las Vegas.
