Johnie Logue
Sports Reporter
The top seeded Lincoln Cardinals defeated eight seeded Windsor 69-50 in the first round of the Kaysinger Conference tournamen last Saturday afternoon at Sacred Heart.
Windsor had beaten Lincoln 52-49 in overtime in Windsor the previous Tuesday.
As like the first game, these two football rivals played a physical style throughout the contest.
Lincoln jumped out a 13-8 lead only to have Windsor tie it at 13 all on two free throws by Dalton Witherspoon.
Mack Hesse blocked a shot and Kyle Eckhoff nailed a straight away three with just seconds left for a 16-13 first quarter margin.
From there, Lincoln got the upper hand and pulled away at 34-21 at the intermission. Hesse had two thunderous blocks, one at the 1:45 mark and another just ten seconds later. Connor Lynde had 10 of his 12 points in the first half.
The stage was set for a Windsor second half comeback. However, Lincoln held off Windsor and led 49-34 after three.
Everyone knew the Greyhounds would make a run and indeed they would cut the lead to ten at 53-43.
Then came the press that hurt Lincoln in the previous game.
Caden Smallwood had went out early in the quarter with a sprained ankle and it looked like the tide might turn in favor of Windsor.
However, Kaleb Mundy would make a superb pass to Ross Johnson for a layup to make it 55-45.
This time around, Lincoln was able to inbound the ball successfully and broke the press for several layups.
Dalton Witherspoon was called for a technical foul and there would be no rally this time. Lincoln expanded their lead as Hesse and Eckhoff each made their two free throws down the stretch to preserve the sweet victory.
Dalton Witherspoon had 20 points and was 10-12 from the free throw line.
Windsor's Trenton Richey, who had 16 in their first meeting, was held to six this time around.
Eckhoff led Lincoln with 23 points and Hesse tossed in 16.
Windsor had beaten Otterville in the play-in game on Friday.
Lincoln moved to 13-6 and will play Cole Camp in the semifinal for the rubber game between the two teams.
LINCOLN (69): Hesse, 16; Eckhoff, 23; Mundy, 1; Smith, 6; Lynde, 12; Smallwood, 3; Johnson, 8.
WINDSOR (50): Da. Witherspoon, 20; Richey, 6; Paxton, 3; Dy. Witherspoon, 16; P. Witherspoon, 5.
* * *
A few hours before the area was buried in snow and ice, Lincoln, seeded first, took on arch rival, fifth seeded Cole Camp in the Kaysinger Tournament at State Fair in Sedalia on Tuesday night.
They had split their first two meetings, each with a key player out. Connor Lynde, Lincoln's catalyst missed their first encounter where they lost by ten in the Warsaw tournament and Gage Cross, Cole Camp's 6'6" pivot man missed the second game in a 26-19 slow-down battle won by Lincoln in Lincoln.
Lincoln was missing their defensive ace, Caden Smallwood this time around with an injury and Cole Camp had their towering center, Gage Cross back. So on paper, Cole Camp maybe had a slight edge coming in on the neutral floor.
In an action packed battle, Lincoln won out 57-48 to move into the finals against second seeded Smithton whenever the weather cleared. Smithton edged Sacred Heart by a single point later Tuesday evening.
Lincoln started out quick building a 10-5 first quarter lead behind Kyle Eckhoff, Mack Hesse and Ross Johnson. Cole Camp's five points came from a straight away three from Cross and a basket by Ethan Shearer in the lane.
The second quarter saw Lincoln expand their lead to 26-18 behind nine points by the ever-present Connor Lynde.
Shearer and Cole Camp's other stellar guard, Reid Harrison were held to just three points in the first half by Lincoln's defense and periods of cold spells from the floor by the Bluebirds duo.
Big Michael Wissman hit two buckets and picked up two fouls in the quarter. He went to the bench and never returned as Cole Camp went to an all out full court press.
Lincoln had a number of turnovers but most were after they broke the press with good passing and the quick feet of Lynde and company.
The first several minutes of the second half were played on Cole Camp's end of the floor as Lincoln fouled several times and turned the ball over to the frustration of Lincoln's head coach Tyler Burke.
However, Lincoln would right their ship and pull out to a 37-20 lead.
Cole Camp called a timeout and began to chip away at the lead behind nine third quarter points from their floor general, Ethan Shearer. The fired up junior, would go 4-4 from the line and hit a dramatic buzzer beater three to cut the lead to 43-34.
The boys in blue, with momentum now in their corner, would cut the lead even more to 47-41. Lynde would rip two free throws and Eckhoff would re-enter the game at the three minute mark having sat most of the quarter with four fouls. He quickly made his presence known with a driving layup off a steal and later added a free throw to push the advantage back to 11 at 52-41.
At the end, Kaleb Mundy would be on the line eight times in the quarter. He made three which was enough to hold off another run by the Bluebirds.
Shearer would foul out and the boys from Lincoln would hang on for the sweeter than sweet victory .
Lincoln's aassistant coach Chris Sanders said, "We had way too many turnovers but it was probably one of our better games."
Caden Smallwood, when asked about their winning without him was all smiles, "It shows we have a pretty good squad. "
They do but they might need Smallwood when they face Smithton and Tom Tripp in the finals.
Want to pass a word of thanks on to Darla and Chele for their great work in the hospitality room this week. The food was great as always.
Lincoln now 14-6, are the Benton County Champs as they defeated Warsaw twice and won two of three from Cole Camp.
LINCOLN (57): Lynde, 19; Eckhoff, 16; Hesse, 9; Mundy, 5; Smith, 2; Johnson, 5.
COLE CAMP (48): Shearer, 15; Harrison, 9; Cross, 7; Dieckman, 4; Corpening, 4.
* * *
The Lincoln Cardinals defeated the Smithton Tigers 42-35 to win the championship of the Kaysinger tournament this past Saturday night.
The tournament was prolonged several days due to the recent snow storm.
Lincoln had beaten Smithton already this season and could face off again in district play.
Lincoln's defense held Smithton's Tom Tripp to 11 points. Coach Burke commented, “Connor Lynde had a great defensive game guarding one of the best players in the conference, but everyone else did a great job of helping him too. It took a team effort to limit him and they did it together. Kaleb Mundy had a great game on defense as well, helping on their two best players in all the right spots.”
Lincoln fell behind 11-7 in the first quarter after missing several layups and Smithton's 6'4" center Derick Shull did a number on Lincoln with 11 first half points. He ended with 15 in the game.
Coach Burke said, "We made an adjustment at half on the post player to try to double him and that limited him a little bit. Mack and Kaleb did a great job with him in the second half. He’s a tough cover.”
At 16-12, Tripp hit an NBA three to make it 19-12 with mere seconds remaining in the half. Lynde hit a layup and Kyle Eckhoff hit a huge straightaway three to cut the lead to 19-16 going into halftime.
Eckhoff came out quick and hit a 12-foot jumper to cut it to one at 19-18. Then the athletic 6'3" junior popped another bucket to take the lead at 20-19.
Mundy, the smallest player on the court, took it coast-to-coast for a layup among the giants to stretch it to 22-19.
Nice blocks on both ends followed. Shull rattled home two free throws to draw it to 22-21.
Eckhoff hit a wide open Ross Johnson for a layup and Lincoln's defense did the rest as they outscored Smithton 12-3 to take the third quarter lead at 28-22.
It looked like Lincoln might pull away in the fourth but Tripp hit two big threes to keep Smithton close.
The game saw the return of Caden Smallwood, who had been out with a bad sprain for two games. He made his presence known in the fourth quarter with a nice kick out in the lane to Eckhoff for a big three and he hit a big free throw down the stretch.
Coach Burke explained, "It was a tough call with Caden because his ankle might not have been ready but he wanted to go and I thought he looked good. He played some great minutes for us. I think it was a boost of confidence for us having him out there.”
Smallwood missed his second shot but Mack Hesse got the rebound of his life and keep the offense going for Lincoln.
Lincoln missed four more free throws between Eckhoff's made two in the last minutes of the hard played contest.
Again, Coach Burke responded, "We are going to have to do a better job at the end of games and with our free throwing shooting."
In the end, Lincoln held on for the win. Coach Burke was complimentary about his players. “Ross (Johnson) has played great this whole tournament. His rebounding and his scoring inside was a big factor all tournament. I think he gained a lot of confidence going forward."
"Kyle Eckhoff has really played well and done a great job of being aggressive going to the basket. He has proven he’s one of the top players in the conference.”
Lincon beat Windsor and Cole Camp in the tournament, two teams who beat them earlier this season. They are now 15-6 with four games left on the schedule against Northwest, Otterville, Green Ridge and Stover.
LINCOLN (42): Eckhoff, 20; Lynde, 9; Johnson, 6; Smallwood, 1; Hesse, 4; Mundy, 2.
SMITHTON (35): Shull, 15; Welch, 4; Nelser, 5; Tripp, 11.
