Local musician Jim Duff has the blues

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I never heard anything impressive on his site at all....read more...

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I work at the HSUS, and I’ve also worked at several animal shelters. Shelters do great work – ad...read more...

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STEARNS – The Lincoln County Patriots suffered their third 12th Region loss of the season Tuesday with a 66-48 setback at the hands of the region’s top dog, McCreary Central.

Not only are the Raiders ranked as the region’s No. 1 team, they have moved into the state’s Top 25 rankings, resting at No. 12 in the latest poll. And Tuesday, the Raiders and their star guard Aaron Watts upped their record to 15-5, using a 7-0 first-half ending run to break open a closely-contested game.

“The end of the first half was crucial. The whole game hinged on that last 1:30 of the first half,” said Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson. “We’re up four and then we’re down three. That last 1:30 changed all the momentum.”

Lincoln (11-7) was up 21-17 when Watts, who finished with 23 points and nine rebounds, dribble-drove his way through the Patriot defense to make it a two-point game. What followed was a Ben Wright 15-footer to even the game at 21-all then, after two scoreless trips down the floor for Lincoln, Watts bombed in a first-half ending 3-pointer to put McCreary on top for good, 24-21

“We missed a couple shots around the basket. We got in the lane once and took a bad shot instead of dropping it off for a layup. We let Watts hit a 3. Our defense got spread out and they went on a 7-0 run,” Jackson said. “We should have been up at the half. But we weren’t. And then Watts comes out and hits a 3 to start the half. That last play was huge.”

Watts, a senior guard, was good for three 3’s in the third quarter as the Raiders got their hands squarely on the game’s momentum. The second and third Watts’ treys went down during a 10-0 Raider run that put the McCreary lead at double digits, 41-29. with 2:18 to play in the third.

“He’s a good player. He’s a great player and we didn’t do a very good job of getting out and contesting him on the 3,” Jackson said of Watts. “We talked in the first half defensively and did a good job of shading him and (Jacob) Dixon. The second half, we did not talk. We let our zone spread out and well ... the third quarter we just didn’t defend at all.”

Matt Cooper, who had 13 points for Lincoln, trimmed the Patriot deficit to 41-32 when he hit from 3-points out but Zack Roark, who had 11 points and eight rebounds, answered quickly in the paint for McCreary to make it 43-32.

The Raider lead never dropped below 11 points again. Jacob Dixon, who also had 11 points for McCreary, closed out the third period with a trey to make it a 59-35 ballgame.

“That was a big play, too,” said Jackson. “It’s 11 and he (Watts) penetrates in and Micah (Ward) comes in to help instead of staying with Dixon. I’d rather give up a two there contested in the lane than Dixon with a wide-open 3. 11 to 13 – that was huge.”

McCreary, which shot 50 percent overall (25-for-50), was at 67 percent in the third quarter, connecting on 10 of 15 field goal attempts.

The Raiders went on to lead by as many as 20 points before the buzzer sounded on the 66-48 final.

“That last 1:30 of the first half was the game changer,” Jackson said. “The second half, we didn’t defend at all.”

“The first half, they’re on our end of the floor and we’re yelling at them. Joseph Vanhook and a couple other guys on the bench are saying ‘They’re coming behind you Ronnie!’ Communicating,” he said. “But they can’t be on our end both halfs. They’ve got to learn to take it upon themselves to talk and communicate and stay focused.”

Lincoln owned the first lead of the night, with Cooper scoring on transition and Zack Hill, who led Lincoln with a double-double effort of 14 points and 11 rebounds, following with a three-point play to put the Patriots up 5-2.

A Cooper trey made it 8-4 midway of the first but Dixon hit for back-to-back triples and Wright followed with his own 3 to give McCreary a 13-8 advantage. The scoreboard would be in Lincoln’s favor by the end of the first, however, with Colby Long, who finished with 10 points, going inside for a bucket, Cooper feeding to Hill inside, then Long swishing in a trey for a 15-13 Pat lead.

Hill made it a four-point game with a second-quarter opening goal only to have Roark answer in the paint and Watts score off a Roark assist to knot the game at 17. The Raiders fell silent over the next three minutes allowing Lincoln to build a 21-17 lead off a jumper and two free throws from Hill. But McCreary was back on target before the half ended, closing out the second quarter with the 7-0 go-ahead run.

“We had our chances,” said Jackson. “We missed so many shots around the basket and you can’t miss against good teams.”

Lincoln shot 33 percent on the night, making 17 of 51 shot attempts. At the foul line, Lincoln was 6-for-12. McCreary was 4-for-6 at the foul line.

The Raiders outrebounded Lincoln 33-24. Cooper pulled down seven boards for the Patriots.

“For 16 minutes, no 14:30, I thought we played really, really well. From then on, we got too spread out and didn’t do the things we needed to do,” said Jackson. “Give them credit. They’ve got a heckuva team. I’d like to play them again. That means we’d be in the region.”

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