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Lincoln County¿s Timmy Taylor tries to drive by Rockcastle County's John Curtis Wilson in the second half of the Patriots' 58-42 win. Taylor scored seven points and had eight steals in the victory. (Nancy Leedy / December 2, 2012) |
MOUNT VERNON — Lincoln County used a 17-3 scoring run over the second and third quarters to open up a close game and set the Patriots on course for victory Friday at Rockcastle County.
Lincoln, beset by poor shooting and a lack of rebounding, fell behind early and trailed for most of the first half, but the run ignited by a B.J. Hoover layin late in the first half turned those early struggles into a double-digit lead as the Patriots moved on for a 58-42 win, their first of the season.
“I thought we came out a little sluggish tonight, then Luke (Hill) getting in foul trouble and Kody (Cornelius) getting hurt made it that much more difficult,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “But we got better as the game went on. From the second quarter on, especially, they all played well.”
Three Patriots finished in double figures in the win, with sophomore guard Jacob Conway leading the way with 17 points. Brandon Pittman, also a sophomore guard, poured in 14 points and got four steals and Luke Hill, a senior center, got 11 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Conway, Pittman and Hill provided the bulk of Lincoln’s scoring in Friday’s win, but Jackson said it took a team effort to notch the victory.
“Luke played well and Shade (Jacobs) gave us good minutes and they are our senior leaders, and we had a lot of younger players out there playing hard,” he said. “I looked out there a lot of times and we had five sophomores on the floor. I thought they did a good job for us. Brandon Pittman had a good game. Timmy Taylor passed the ball well. Jacob hit some big shots. And I thought Andrew Wilks came in and played really, really well and gave us some big minutes with Luke and Kody out.”
Pittman scored the first of his 16 points with the night’s opening bucket to put Lincoln up 2-0 only to have Rockcastle answer with a 10-1 run. Ashton Arvin, who led the Rockets with 14 points, scored two buckets in the run and Josh Mason, who finished with 12 points, scored three goals in the paint for a 10-3 Rocket lead.
Lincoln (1-0) cut the Rocket lead to 10-6 just before the first ended with Pittman draining a 3-pointer.
The Pittman trey was only the second of 11 Patriot shot attempts to fall in the first. The Patriots got no second-chance shots on the misses either with Rockcastle (0-2) grabbing every rebound.
Rockcastle’s Mason and Arvin padded their point totals a little more to start the second quarter, with Mason hitting a jumper and Arvin scoring back-to-back baskets off fastbreaks to keep the Rocket lead at 16-10 with 5:13 to play in the first half.
Taylor and Conway scored for Lincoln early in the second but then the shots stopped falling. After a scoreless two minutes, Pittman found his range from 3-point land then followed with a shot inside off a Taylor assist to narrow the gap to 16-15.
Zach Poynter scored to put Rockcastle’s lead at 18-15 before Lincoln unleashed its rallying run. Taylor, who had a game-high eight assists, passed to Hoover under the basket for two to get the scoring started then followed with his own bucket to ease Lincoln up 19-18. The two sophomores accounted for all Lincoln’s scoring in the final 1:52 of the half. Hoover scored again off a Wilks assist then Taylor drove inside for two points and a 23-19 halftime lead.
Conway, who was 7-for-12 shooting, knocked down three shots early in the third quarter, including a 3-point goal, to extend the Patriot lead, and Pittman closed the run with a bucket off a turnover to make it 32-21.
Lincoln never trailed in the second half. Rockcastle did cut the Lincoln lead to six midway of the third but got no closer as the Patriots pulled away.
Lincoln finished at 49 percent shooting overall, going 24-for-49. The team was 7-for-14 from the foul line.
Rockcastle was at 30 percent on 16-for-54 shooting. The Rockets were 8-for-13 at the line. Lincoln edged Rockcastle 34-33 on the boards. Arvin led the Rockets with 10 rebounds.
Lincoln County 6 23 40 58
Rockcastle County 10 19 31 42
LINCOLN (1-1) — Timmy Taylor 7, BJ Hoover 6, Brandon Pittman 16, Jacob Conway 17, Shade Jacobs 1, Luke Hill 11.
ROCKCASTLE (0-2) — Sam Pensol 3, Dakota Hasty 3, John Curtis Wilson 2, Josh Mason 12, Ashton Arvin 14, Corey McPhetridge 4, Blake Mullins 1, Zach Poynter 3.
Lincoln, beset by poor shooting and a lack of rebounding, fell behind early and trailed for most of the first half, but the run ignited by a B.J. Hoover layin late in the first half turned those early struggles into a double-digit lead as the Patriots moved on for a 58-42 win, their first of the season.
“I thought we came out a little sluggish tonight, then Luke (Hill) getting in foul trouble and Kody (Cornelius) getting hurt made it that much more difficult,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “But we got better as the game went on. From the second quarter on, especially, they all played well.”
Three Patriots finished in double figures in the win, with sophomore guard Jacob Conway leading the way with 17 points. Brandon Pittman, also a sophomore guard, poured in 14 points and got four steals and Luke Hill, a senior center, got 11 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Conway, Pittman and Hill provided the bulk of Lincoln’s scoring in Friday’s win, but Jackson said it took a team effort to notch the victory.
“Luke played well and Shade (Jacobs) gave us good minutes and they are our senior leaders, and we had a lot of younger players out there playing hard,” he said. “I looked out there a lot of times and we had five sophomores on the floor. I thought they did a good job for us. Brandon Pittman had a good game. Timmy Taylor passed the ball well. Jacob hit some big shots. And I thought Andrew Wilks came in and played really, really well and gave us some big minutes with Luke and Kody out.”
Pittman scored the first of his 16 points with the night’s opening bucket to put Lincoln up 2-0 only to have Rockcastle answer with a 10-1 run. Ashton Arvin, who led the Rockets with 14 points, scored two buckets in the run and Josh Mason, who finished with 12 points, scored three goals in the paint for a 10-3 Rocket lead.
Lincoln (1-0) cut the Rocket lead to 10-6 just before the first ended with Pittman draining a 3-pointer.
The Pittman trey was only the second of 11 Patriot shot attempts to fall in the first. The Patriots got no second-chance shots on the misses either with Rockcastle (0-2) grabbing every rebound.
Rockcastle’s Mason and Arvin padded their point totals a little more to start the second quarter, with Mason hitting a jumper and Arvin scoring back-to-back baskets off fastbreaks to keep the Rocket lead at 16-10 with 5:13 to play in the first half.
Taylor and Conway scored for Lincoln early in the second but then the shots stopped falling. After a scoreless two minutes, Pittman found his range from 3-point land then followed with a shot inside off a Taylor assist to narrow the gap to 16-15.
Zach Poynter scored to put Rockcastle’s lead at 18-15 before Lincoln unleashed its rallying run. Taylor, who had a game-high eight assists, passed to Hoover under the basket for two to get the scoring started then followed with his own bucket to ease Lincoln up 19-18. The two sophomores accounted for all Lincoln’s scoring in the final 1:52 of the half. Hoover scored again off a Wilks assist then Taylor drove inside for two points and a 23-19 halftime lead.
Conway, who was 7-for-12 shooting, knocked down three shots early in the third quarter, including a 3-point goal, to extend the Patriot lead, and Pittman closed the run with a bucket off a turnover to make it 32-21.
Lincoln never trailed in the second half. Rockcastle did cut the Lincoln lead to six midway of the third but got no closer as the Patriots pulled away.
Lincoln finished at 49 percent shooting overall, going 24-for-49. The team was 7-for-14 from the foul line.
Rockcastle was at 30 percent on 16-for-54 shooting. The Rockets were 8-for-13 at the line. Lincoln edged Rockcastle 34-33 on the boards. Arvin led the Rockets with 10 rebounds.
Lincoln County 6 23 40 58
Rockcastle County 10 19 31 42
LINCOLN (1-1) — Timmy Taylor 7, BJ Hoover 6, Brandon Pittman 16, Jacob Conway 17, Shade Jacobs 1, Luke Hill 11.
ROCKCASTLE (0-2) — Sam Pensol 3, Dakota Hasty 3, John Curtis Wilson 2, Josh Mason 12, Ashton Arvin 14, Corey McPhetridge 4, Blake Mullins 1, Zach Poynter 3.
