LC Boys Basketball 5/3rd Bank Schedule

Lincoln County will open the Lexington Catholic 5/3rd Bank tournament at 3:00 on Thursday Dec. 27 with a game against the winner of the Dixie Heights vs. East Ridge, Tennessee game. The game will be played on the main court at Lexington Catholic. The complete Schedule can be viewed here:

http://www.lexingtoncatholic.com/sports/basketball/bbasketball/2007KHC.xls

LC Boys finish 3rd @ Defender of the Station

Lincoln County Boys defeated Wayne County 84-45 in the 3rd place game of the Defenders of the Station tournament in Lexington. The win improved the Patriots record to 6-2. Lincoln opened the tournament with a tough loss to no. 9 Henry Clay 72-69 as they missed two 3's to tie the game inside the last few seconds. They followed the Henry Clay loss with a win over another preseason top 25 team with a win over Dupont Manual 61-59. Lincoln's third game game came against Covington Holy Cross, who had previously lost to Manual 96-89 and Henry Clay 53-43, and the Patriots prevailed by a score of 82-54. The 2-1 record in Pool Play set Lincoln up with Wayne Co. in the 3rd Place game. Ryan Young and Ethan Spurlin both made the All-tournament team for Lincoln.

LC Boys Defender of the Station Schedule

All games at Henry Clay

Wednesday vs. Henry Clay 8:00 pm
Thursday vs. Dupont Manual 6:30 pm
Friday vs. Covington Holy Cross 6:30 pm
Saturday is determine by the 3 previous games.

LC Boys improve to 3-1 with win at West Jessamine

The Patriots improved to 3-1 on the season with a 55-49 win over West Jessamine in Nicholasville. The Patriots started slow and trailed at half time 25-19. The Patriots shot only 30% and had only 6 assists for the game. This team struggled in a half court set and will have to learn to play half court. They definitely have the horses to run with anyone, but teams will try to slow it against them and they will have to run some half court sets. Ryan Young led the Pats with 18 points followed by Noah Keeton and Ethan Spurlin with 14 apiece.

LC Girls Use Balanced Attack to Beat Corbin

The Lincoln County girl's basketball team moved to 5-0 by beating Corbin 57-34 Friday night. Lincoln had 3 players in double figures (Upchurch 14, Bustle 12, and Lane 11) and two others were close (Patterson 9 and Brown 8). After struggling through a dismal 2nd quarter, they exploded in the 2nd half with 34 points (which is what Corbin scored all night). There were scouts in the stands looking at #4 from Corbin, but I think that they left with the idea that some of these sophomores from LC are getting on the radar for playing at the next level. Once again, Lincoln did not play well for a stretch (22 turnovers), but still beat a good team by more than 20 points. Keep an eye on this team, they have a chance to be special.

LC Boys roll past East Jessamine

Lincoln County improved to 2-1 Tuesday night with a 92-71 win at East Jessamine. Lincoln's press is effective until they get tired and then they become pretty average. They went from up 46-30 to up by 29 just 4 minutes into the second half. During that stretch tough defense and sharing the basketball was the key. Daniel Ralston led all scorers finishing with 25 points, followed by Ryan Young with 24 (10 assists), Ethan Spurlin 19 (13 rebounds) and Noah Keeton with 13 points (7 assists). I would put our first 4 up against anyone in the region.

If this team plays as a team first and lets the stats take care of themselves this will be a very special team. I do think that we will need to develop some depth with Edgington, Ellis, Owsley, Gilbert, Jackson and others.

Friday at West Jessamine should be a good test. West has an impressive win over McCreary Central. They have 2 small guards who really get after the basketball.

LC boys rally but fall short to Bryan Station

If there was any question if the football players would play basketball against Bryan Station, it was answered with a resounding "yes" on Tuesday night. After spotting the Defenders a 30-15 1st quarter lead, the Patriots rallied back to eventually tie the game with about 5 minutes to go but ultimately fell short 85-79. Ethan Spurlin had 23 points and 6 rebounds to lead Lincoln. Daniel Ralston had 17 points, Noah Keeton had 16 (and 8 rebounds), Ryan Young had 15 (and 6 assists to go along with 6 turnovers). You could tell that Keeton, Young, and Tre Owsley (who played well) were not in basketball shape yet, but they still went toe to toe with the 5th ranked team in the state. Shelvin Mack of Bryan Station had 18 points including back to back trips where he made tough baskets to put Lincoln away. If you didn't get to see it in person, you missed one heck of a game. I know we lost, but I feel that if we played Bryan Station next month, the end result would be different. Give the coaches and players time to blend the football players in with the rest and Lincoln will be tough to beat. Bryan Station gave #1 Mason County all they wanted last week and Lincoln took #5 Bryan Station to the wire. Get a schedule and make time to watch this team play. You won't be disappointed.

Girls Defeat Rockcastle

The Lincoln County Girls Basketball team defeated Rockcastle last night 62-54 in what was an outstanding game to watch. In case you're not up on 12th region girl's basketball, Rockcastle is one of the teams predicted to contend for the title and Lincoln made a statement that they will have something to say about who wins this region. Rockcastle has several players remaining from last year's regional semifinalist team and the previous year's regional champion team. Lincoln's Jessica Upchurch played extremely well both offensively and defensively and shut down Sarah Rowe (who might be the most athletic player in the region). Nikki Bustle and Savannah Lane hit key three pointers and Kendra Brown and Keira Henderson showed flashes of dominance in the paint. The press gave Lincoln problems, but in the end, Alissa Patterson was able to control the ball well enough to preserve the win. It's time to get on the girl's bandwagon! They travel to East Jessamine on Friday (no boy's game) and host Garrard on Tuesday, December 11. Look out 12th region, here comes the Big Red!

Time for Hoops!

Now that the football Patriots have put the finishing touches on a fantastic season, it's time to turn our attention to basketball. If you haven't noticed, the boys and girls will both have a lot to say about the 12th region championship. The boys may take a little time to gel since Keeton, Young, and Owsley just got off the gridiron, but don't be suprised if Ethan Spurlin, Trevor Edgington, and company continue to rip off victories. Come out Tuesday night and support the boys as they take on Bryan Station (and Mr. Basketball candidate Shelvin Mack). On the girls' side, Coach Don Story must be foaming at the mouth after being ranked 8th in the region (including 3rd in the district). The girls have a lot of talent and can play all styles. Look for them to run relentlessly for a while and then pound the ball inside to Brown and Henderson (the best 1-2 inside punch in the region). The girls host Rockcastle tonight, so come out and watch two great teams battle early in the season. The roads to Rupp and Diddle run through Lincoln County!

Patriots season ends with loss to Highlands 49-21

The Patriot's cinderella season came to an end Friday night with a heartbreaking loss to unbeaten Highlands. The Bluebirds jumped on the visiting Pats early and the mercy rule was in effect for the entire second half. On the positive side, our team never gave up and fought back to make the score somewhat respectable. Special teams provided some excitement when Kody Reed smashed a Highlands player to get possession on two onside kicks in the second half. Highlands actually said that Coach Mueller allowed Lincoln to gain possession of those onside kicks just to not make the Patriots look bad. I forgot how generous of a coach Highlands has since they called timeout with :01 remaining in the first half in order to kick a field goal when they were up 46-0, that is no class. I hope Bowling Green squashes them and ruins their dreams for their 17th title. Someone from Highlands will lose some money because they have already ordered their state championship rings, it makes me sick. I saw several late hits and even saw #32 punch our running back on one play six or seven times. Chase Marcum was taunted by one of their fans after he got into it when one of their lineman speared him in the back at the end of a play while he was down. First class program my butt, I hope they lose by fifty and the KHSAA investigates them for recruiting. I have zero respect for their program. Not because we simply lost the game, but for the way they played it. I'm not going to lie, Highlands players executed and we didn't tackle. They had more speed than we did, period.
I honestly think the game could have gone differently had Lincoln scored in the first quarter. The Patriots needed to realize that this team was human, and that they bleed just like we do. I can't fault the Patriots at all because it was a very tough venue to play in and there were a lot of obstacles outside of their on-the-field athleticism that we had to overcome.
I am still very proud of our team this year, nobody thought that you would have a winning record much less be playing in the state semifinals. This year's players and coaches have worked hard and have laid the foundation once again for Lincoln to become an elite program. That alone should make you hold your heads high. Congrats Patriots for a great season and the most important thing is that we are all looking forward to next year.
It all comes down to this, French has not only produced a great football team this year he has produced a great group of young men who will be leaders in the future. High school sports is about so much more than what you do on the field or court. If you are not playing college sports, you use the discipline and leadership you learn in high school sports to guide you in the future. The long and short of this story is tell me this who would you rather go to war with than.....Brummett, Gilbert, Reed, Denson, Conatser, Marcum, Rogers, Young, Edwards, Walls, Foister, Keeton, Long, Bustle. You guys will always have my respect.