By Stephen Smoot
Very rarely is it a good thing to show your age. Getting old is not for the faint of heart, and neither was the play on the hardwood this past Thursday when Lincoln traveled to Clarksburg to battle Roberrt C. Byrd. It wasn’t just any normal regular season lock-up like the two previous battles between the two talent laden squads.
Each team protected its home court in the regular season, which left this contest as he rubber match that would provide the winner of the sectional championship and home court advantage in the regionals as the cherry on top!
The stakes were high and so were the emotions of the players, coaches, and fans. The intensity was present from the time the players made their way onto the floor for the warm-ups until the final buzzer. When the horn sounded, the fourth seeded Cougars had claimed a 48 to 42 win in an epic battle at One Eagle Way.
Lincoln was ranked last in the four team section, and that appeared to provide additional motivation for the experienced group. Every Cougar that saw the floor was an upperclassman and, going into the postseason, six major contributors knew this would be their last go-round.They felt that they were better than their last place seeding and they set out this past week to prove it.
It might have been a shock to hoops fans around the Mountain State when Lincoln went to Liberty and upended the top-ranked Mountaineers.
In Shinnston, however, it was just business as usual.
The victory over the second seeded Flying Eagles was a second consecutive upset win on paper, but it was not an upset in the minds of those around the program. On Feb 7, the Cougars defeated Liberty 46 to 30, and on Feb 16, they took down Robert C. Byrd 56 to 40. The pair of 16 point wins gave them confidence heading into postseason play.
Lincoln was riding a four game win streak into Clarksburg and they had won seven of their eight last tilts. They found themselves, however, trailing 35 to 32 heading into the final period of play. The old saying is that defense wins championships and that was the case in this affair. The Cougars would allow just three field goals in the final eight minutes of play and would go on to outscore the Flying Eagles 16 to seven en route to the triumph.
It was a highly contested outing that didn’t provide easy buckets or rebounds. Both teams were forced to claw and scratch for everything that they received. They left it all on the court, and in the end, the average basketball fan could say that you hated to see either team lose, and in reality, that was the case.
Both teams, via wins on Tuesday, were guaranteed a right to compete for a trip to the state tournament in Charleston. In many cases, such as this, the level of play will somewhat diminish because the players know that the next game, the regional, is the one that holds the “Big Dance” future. But these teams have been coached way better than that and they hold themselves to a different standard. The end result is a throwback game that will be remembered for years to come.
Not only was the play and effort impressive, the pregame preparation by the coaching staffs for both teams was spectacular, and the officiating in the second half was as good as you could ask for. The players were allowed to properly dictate the outcome of the game, which wasn’t an easy task because of the physicality on the floor. A job well done by everyone involved, which helped this game become a true instant classic!