Lincolnview cruises by USV 63-36

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

Lincolnview simply had too many weapons and too much depth as the Lancers rolled to a 63-36 win over visiting Upper Scioto Valley Friday night. It’s the first 2-0 start for Lincolnview since the 2020-2021 season.

Lincolnview never trailed in the game. Chayse Overholt drained a pair of early treys to help the Lancers get out to an 8-0 lead. USV managed to whittle the deficit to just two, 11-9, but two free throws and a triple by Max Hammons helped push the advantage to 17-9.

The Lancers led 19-13 to start the second quarter and after USV’s Caiden Lowery scored, Lincolnview rattled off nine unanswered points, all coming from Hammons and Overholt. Overholt scored Lincolnview’s last points of the quarter on a trey with 2:40 left and the Lancers led 31-19 at halftime.

“When he’s making shots he makes our offense even better,” Lincolnview head coach Brett Hammons said of Overholt. “He’s improved defensively and I thought he got after it tonight defensively. He’s just a threat and one thing he did a good job of tonight is when they came out hard at him, he would shot fake, look to go around them and kick it out for some open shots for his teammates. He brings a lot to the table when he’s knocking down shots like he did tonight.”

Overholt finished with a game high 19 points and hit five-of-eight on three point attempts. 

A key factor in the first half was rebounding, as the Lancers controlled the board during the first two quarters.

“That was our goal coming into this year,” Hammons stated. “We struggled to rebound the last few years but we have some size. We were able to get physical tonight and rebound the basketball…we limited them to very few second chance opportunities which I thought was huge for us tonight. When we rebound the way we did tonight it allows us to get out in transition and run which we were pretty good at tonight.”

Gavin Evans led Lincolnview with seven rebounds and tallied eight points.

The two teams mostly traded baskets in the third period, but Lincolnview scored the final four points of the quarter on a pair of foul shots by Hammons and a buzzer beating basket by Seth Brant, giving the Lancers a 45-29.

Any small hope of a USV comeback was quickly squashed in the fourth quarter, as Lincolnview opened the final period with unanswered baskets by Hammons, who finished with 14 points, and a wide open left corner three pointer by Holden Price. Midway through the fourth quarter, both teams emptied their respective benches.

Lincolnview finished the night 24-of-47 from the floor and 7-of-10 from the foul line. Nine different players scored for the Lancers.

“We go deep but we like going that deep to keep our guys fresh with the way we like to play and get out and run,” Hammons said. “We bring in a couple of guys who give us some athleticism, they give us size. It depends on the matchups we have throughout the year but I think the guys we had  in there all put their handprints on this game in one way or another and I’m pleased with the effort they gave us.”

Two players that saw considerable action were a pair of freshman – 6-2 guard Marshall Hammons and 6-7 forward Emryn Hatfield.

“Our younger guys have been playing with our varsity players since the summer so they’ve been used to playing together and interacting,” the coach said. “They’ve gelled pretty well and they’ve all accepted each other and the roles that they’re playing.”

Box score

LHS  19 12 14 18 – 63

USV  13   6 10   7 – 36

Lincolnview: Holden Price 1-0-3; Max Hammons 5-2-14; Zander Coil 2-2-7; Gavin Evans 4-0-8; Chayse Overholt 7-0-19; Grant Zielke 1-0-2; Marshall Hammons 1-2-4; Seth Brant 1-0-2; Emryn Hatfield 2-0-4

USV: Andrue Kindle 1-0-3; Caiden Lowery 4-0-9; Hunter Damron 2-2-7; Macain Underwood1-2-4; Carter Oglesbee 1-0-2; Beau Sanders 4-3-11

JV: Lincolnview 57-31