CHARLESTON — Lincoln’s perseverance paid off in a big way Saturday afternoon in the consolation fi nals of the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament.
After a back-and-forth fi rst half, the Wolves pulled away late by getting the ball inside and executing their offense en route to a 65-50 victory over Cedarville.
Lincoln (13-10) will be a No. 3 seed in next week’s Class 3A State Tournament in Searcy and will play at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday against the No. 2 seed from Region 2.
The biggest difference for Lincoln in the third quarter was making extra passes on each possession, allowing post players Dakota Leming and Zack Summers to get open shots.
Both players led the Wolves, combining for 35 points while Horacio Escareno finished with 10.
“It’s amazing what can change when you just run the offense,” Lincoln coach Tim Rich said. “We didn’t do anything different. We just ran the offense the way we were supposed to and it gave us some opportunities.”
Lincoln, which led 29-25 at halftime, forced Cedarville (18-10) into making careless turnovers, giving the Wolves extra chances to score.
Cedarville cut Lincoln’s lead to three points with 2 minutes, 54 seconds left in the third quarter before the Wolves went on a 16-7 scoring run that ended midway through the fourth quarter.
“At halftime we just rolled over,” Cedarville coach Andrew Tencleve said. “They kept taking the fi ght to us inside, and we didn’t want any part of it. We weren’t going to do anything to keep the ball out of there, and when it came off the rim, we didn’t go get any rebounds.”
The Pirates, who made only 10 of 19 foul shots, were led by Keith Simkins, who finished with 18 points.
Charleston 40 Greenland 38 GIRLS - Charleston held off a late Greenland rally to take down the Lady Pirates by two points in the consolation finals of the Class 3A Region 1 Tournament.
Greenland (17-12) will be a No. 4 seed in next week’s state tournament and will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday against the top seed from Region 2.
Greenland was led by junior forward Holland Craise, who finished with 16 points. Andrea Scott added seven points.
Greenland coach Alan Barton said the Lady Pirates had chances to win the game in the second half, but forcing too many turnovers hurt their chances.
“We’ve got to learn to be more disciplined, especially down the stretch,” Barton said. “But we’ll learn from this tournament and get ready for next week. That’s all we can do at this point.”
Charleston’s Paityn McLaughlin led her team with 10 points.
Sports, Pages 8 on 02/27/2011