Johnie Logue
Sports Reporter
Lincoln's Kaleb Mundy summed it all up on Friday night by saying, "How many teams can say they beat Sacred Heart three times in the same season?"
Not many. Lincoln outscored Sacred Heart 19-2 in the second quarter on their way to a 62-37 victory and the Class 2 District 8 championship. The other two games were dogfights to the bitter end, but this one, not so much.
Coach Tyler Burke commented, "This was extra sweet because Sacred Heart knocked us out of districts last year. We have the utilmate respect for their program."
Connor Lynde opened the game with a three from the right corner.
Lynde said, "We knew they would play zone. We wanted to get Mack (Hesse) the ball inside and then drive to the basket, but we were hitting shots and really didn't have to."
Speaking of hitting shots, Kyle Eckhoff broke the game open, hitting six threes for 25 points.
Asked about the huge crowd that packed the bleachers and the stage area, Lynde commented, "I had chills when we came out.This was amazing."
Coach Burke said, "The noise level caused us some communication problems in the first quarter. We used hand signals to set up plays."
It was Lincoln ahead 13-11 after one. Then the best was yet to come as Lincoln's smothering defense would come into play in the second frame.
Coach Burke remarked, "We always have one quarter where our defense really kicks in. We looked at each other in a timeout and said this is our quarter."
They held the Gremlins' high scoring Carter Rice to just four points on the night. The slick shooting junior guard was coming off district games of 27 and 24 points.
It was 32-13 at the half with Mundy catching an air ball and hitting a spectacular three foot reverse bank shot as the horn sounded.
It was 47-24 after three with Lincoln playing probably their best game of the year.
Hesse said, "We flipped a switch on Monday and started a new season. The undefeated regular season was great but we still have business to take care of."
They shot 12-14 from the line. Sacred Heart was 6-7.
Sophomore Cam Everhart came off the bench and hit a big three.
Lynde commented, "Cam has been playing amazing."
The Cardinals improved to 28-0 and will prepare to face off against Salisbury (25-3) in the Class 2 state tournament on Monday night. Sacred Heart ended their season at 20-10.
LINCOLN (62): Eckhoff 25, Lynde 10, Hesse 7, Everhart 3, Johnson 6, Mundy 11.
SACRED HEART (37): Damlo 2, Goodwin 3, Brown 16, Co. Rice 12, Ca. Rice 4.
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With their perfect regular season behind them, the Lincoln Cardinals meant business Wednesday night in district semifinal play against Concordia, winning 57-31 in a game that the final score didn't reflect the entire story of the game. Consider that Lincoln led 19-1 after the first quarter and 31-5 at the half.
Coach Tyler Burke subbed early and often to keep his players out of foul trouble and to give his bench some playing time.
"I wanted to give our younger players a taste of district play, " Coach Burke said.
He sympathized with Concordia when he said, "It had to had been frustrating and devastating to fall behind early to the number one seed ."
The Orioles just couldn't get a shot to fall.
Coach Burke added, "We came out early and hit them with our buzzsaw defense. We came ready to play."
The one bright spot for Concordia was that senior Zack Brackman scored the 1,000th point of his career in the fourth quarter on an old fashioned three point play. He had 19 points on the night going 7-7 from the line.
The second half saw Lincoln's bench dominate the playing time. It was 45-16 after three. Lincoln moved to 27-0.
Fourth seeded Concordia had beaten fifth seeded Green Ridge in a thriller, 53-51 in the first round. Lincoln received a first round bye.
In other first round action, Tipton beat Sweet Springs, 74-45 and Sacred Heart defeated Smithton, 68-43 on Monday.
Sacred Heart, seeded third, beat second seed Tipton 64-54 in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
LINCOLN (57): Lynde 7, Mundy 7, Eckhoff 16, Hesse 8, Everhart 9, Johnson 4, Sanders 4
CONCORDIA (31): Brackman 19, Wilkens 2, Fine 5, B. Inman 3, R. Inman 2.
