Brookland Defense Too Much For Lincoln

Special To NWA Media Mark Buffalo Lincoln’s Payton Hulse drives on Brookland’s Patrick Hudson during the first quarter of the Class 4A state quarterfinals Saturday at the Gina Cox Center in Lonoke.
Special To NWA Media Mark Buffalo Lincoln’s Payton Hulse drives on Brookland’s Patrick Hudson during the first quarter of the Class 4A state quarterfinals Saturday at the Gina Cox Center in Lonoke.

LONOKE -- Brookland's defense was too much for Lincoln.

Lincoln was limited to just two field goals in the second half and the Bearcats used a 19-1 run to defeat the Wolves 48-25 in the quarterfinals at the Class 4A State Tournament. Lincoln ends the season at 22-6 after winning its first state tourney game since the 1950s Thursday.

Class 4A State Tournament

Boys

Brookland 48, Lincoln 25

Lincoln^7^10^6^2^ — ^25

Brookland^12^10^10^16^ — ^48

Lincoln (22-6): McConnell 7, Goldman 5, Hulse 5, Escareno 3, Pitts 2, Barnum 2, Cummings 1.

Brookland: Gramling 13, Ballard 10, Newton 7, Henry 5, Groves 5, Thompson 4, Willett 4.

Brookland will face the Monticello-Dollarway winner in the semifinals on Monday.

Lincoln didn't score a field goal the final 11 minutes, 41 seconds of the game after trailing 22-17 at halftime. Dylan McConnell led Lincoln with seven points. Shandon Goldman scored five points while Ossy Escareno finished with three points.

"We went cold, and we didn't shoot well the entire game," Lincoln coach Tim Rich said. "We didn't play well, but I am extremely proud of the season we had. We did a lot of stuff that hasn't happened in Lincoln in a long time."

Brookland coach Bobby Gross said one of the strengths of the Bearcats is their play on the defensive end of the court.

"Defense has been our mainstay for the last four years, when this team started playing together," Gross said. "Lincoln is a good team, they took Maumelle all the way to overtime. We competed our tails off. When it comes down to effort, all the credit goes to them because it is hard to play this style for 32 minutes."

Reece Gramling led Brookland with 13 points, including eight in the second half. William Ballard was also in double figures for Brookland with 10.

Brookland scored nine second-chance points in the first half for a five-point lead at halftime, and 13 for the game.

"It seemed like we always had somebody there," Rich said. "Even when we blocked out, it seemed to bounce in their direction. Then there were times we just missed them. It was just one of those days."

Brookland jumped to an early 12-3 lead but the Wolves cut the margin to five at halftime on a 3-pointer by Escareno and a free throw by Tyler Cummings. But the Wolves would get no closer as Brookland's defense was too much for Lincoln.

Sports on 03/09/2014

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