Lincoln defeated St. Paul Lutheran, 47-46 at home on Monday night in a MSHSAA Class 2 Sectional matchup. The game was everything that a 21-4 team against a 21-5 team should be.
Junior Dawson Parrott hit a free throw, the biggest of his career, with 9.3 seconds left to seal the win at 47-46. St. Paul inbounded the ball from under the basket to half court with 2.7 seconds left and Parrott leaped into the crowd of players, and came down with the ball for the win as time ran out.
Cardinals coach Tyler Burke, a bit of prophet on this particular night, told his team before the game that they wanted to win 46-45.
Lincoln couldn't hit from the outside in the first half. It was 8-7 after one for the Cardinals, but Lincoln trailed 15-12 at the half.
Chance Koll hit two quick threes in the third and a trade of buckets tied it at 20 all.
Lincoln fouled a three pointer at the end of the third and Kaden Gallop made all three free throws with no time on the clock to make it 27- 25 in favor of St. Paul.
Lincoln fell behind 34-28 but Ben Eckhoff made a layup with three players on him to make it 30-34. St. Paul played a zone and doubled down on Eckhoff the whole game.
At the 4:25 mark, Brayden Benham drove the baseline, dropped the ball in the lane, fought off defenders and made a bucket to make it 32-34. From there, Lincoln caught fire setting up the heroics by a host of Cardinals in the end.
Coach Burke commented, "This was awesome to host a game played like this in this new gym. It was physical on both ends."
He added, "We've been in a lot of close games this year and won most of them. I told the kids at halftime that we needed some two's but we needed to hit our shots from the outside."
He went on to say, "We knew they would be athletic and have good size. I am very proud of our defense tonight."
Riley Sanders, who made some big buckets down the stretch and led Lincoln with 14 points, commented, "They are a good team. We missed some shots, but we got the win."
Lincoln will travel to Gallatin on Friday to play in the Class 2 Quarterfinals.
LINCOLN (47): Sanders, 14; Parrott, 6; Koll, 10; Benham, 12; Eckhoff, 5.
ST. PAUL (46): Gallop, 17; Kriesel, 12; Moenkhoff, 3; Sheets, 8; McGinnis, 6.
