Lincolnview stuns Lima Central Catholic

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

LIMA — A dominant fourth quarter propelled Lincolnview to a key road win in its Northwest Conference opener on Friday.

Leading highly regarded Lima Central Catholic 39-38 after three quarters, the Lancers outscored the Thunderbirds by a 22-7 margin in the final period, giving Lincolnview a 61-45 win and the program’s first 4-0 (1-0 NWC) start since the 2020-2021 season.

“It feels really good to be sitting at 4-0 but most importantly, I’m happy for these kids,” head coach Brett Hammons said. “It’s always fun walking into a locker room and seeing the smiles and excitement on their faces for what they’re accomplishing right now. We haven’t been 4-0 for five years.”

“I’m just proud of the guys and the effort they played with,” he added. “We had a game plan coming in and knew we had to execute it to win. I felt that we did that.”

The Lancers found themselves down 13-8 after one quarter but bounced back nicely in the second quarter with a 19-10 scoring advantage and a 27-23 halftime lead.

The foul line was a key factor in the game, as Lincolnview connected on 15-of-19 free throws (79 percent), compared to just 4-of-11 (36 percent) by Lima Central Catholic (3-2, 0-1 NWC).

Max Hammons led the Lancers with 25 points, Gavin Evans added 12 points and eight rebounds, and Marshall Hammons finished with 10 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Lincolnview enjoyed a slight advantage on the boards, 28-25.

Lima Central Catholic’s Jordan Priddy, considered one of best players in the NWC, led all scorers with 28 points.

“Priddy is a heck of a player and we knew he would get his but we had to make it difficult for him and the others,” Hammons said. “We knew we had to win the rebounding battle which we did and we knew we had to do a good job of taking care of the basketball, which we also did. But it also comes down to you have make shots and I felt we made shots of when we needed them and that’s a credit to our guys.”

Lincolnview will travel to Ada tonight.

Scoring summary

Lancers   8  18  12  22 – 61

T-birds   13  10 15    7 – 45

Lincolnview: Holden Price 1-0-3; Max Hammons 7-7-25; Zander Coil 1-0-2; Gavin Evans 4-4-12; Chayse Overholt 3-0-9; Marshall Hammons 3-2-10

Lima Central Catholic: Jordan Priddy 11-4-28; Brady Parker 1-0-2; Xavier Parnell 3-0-6; Brevan Stolly 1-0-2; Hunter Williams 1-0-3; Dom McKee 2-0-4