McCreary Central used a 24-6 third quarter run to pull away from visiting Lincoln County last Tuesday evening. The Raiders led by as much as twenty points at two separate points of the fourth quarter before posting the 66-48 final score.
The Patriots were looking for a measure of revenge against the Raiders who knocked them out of the regional tournament last year on their home floor preventing them from making a third consecutive trip to Rupp Arena and the “Sweet 16”.
This years Lincoln team has undergone some significant changes in personnel with the graduation of six seniors from last years team. Despite the changes the Patriots have managed to play somewhat surprisingly well coming in with an 11-6 record which included wins over Wayne County and West Jessamine who along with McCreary comprise two of the top three teams in the 12th Region.
Lincoln played well early jumping to an 8-4 lead on a three pointer by senior Matt Cooper. The Raiders quickly found the range from outside the three point line though and hit a trio of three point bombs, two of them by junior Jacob Dixon from the left side and a final one from point guard Ben Wright, putting Central on top 13-8 with 2:12 left in the first quarter.
Lincoln rallied back though with a run of their own to take a 15-13 lead into the second quarter.
After an early basket by Zack Hill to complete a 9-0 run to put the Patriots up 17-13 McCreary got baskets by Aaron Watts and Zack Roark to tie the score at 17-17.
Lincoln pushed back into the lead as Hill scored four more points but while doing so also missed two free throws.
The Raiders got a huge momentum swinging run to end the half scoring the final seven points over the final 2:11 to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room. Baskets by Watts and Wright started the run and then Watts buried a huge three pointer in the final minute of the half.
McCreary was able to extend the lead after a nice feed from Wright to Dixon early in the second half to give the Raiders a 26-21 lead.
A pair of three pointers and a Raider turnover helped the Patriots quickly close the gap to 31-29 with 5:12 still remaining in the third but Watts responded with a three pointer to start McCreary on a 10-0 run that eventually grew into the 24-5 run that put the game away for McCreary.
Freshman Tyson Williams scored on a put back and then with a short jumper while Watts added another three pointer to push the Raiders to a 41-29 lead.
A three pointer by Cooper with 2:00 remaining in the third stopped the Raider run and briefly pulled the Patriots back to within single digits.
Roark drove the lane for a basket and Williams followed with a three point play to put McCreary back up by fourteen. A Zack Hill three point play was countered by a three pointer out of the left corner in the final seconds by Jacob Dixon to give the Raiders a 49-35 lead heading to the final quarter.
McCreary continued to expand the lead in the fourth with Roark and Watts scoring in the first minute and then Roark scoring again on a put back with 6:34 to play giving the Raiders their largest lead at 55-35. From there Lincoln would not be able to get closer than fifteen points the rest of the way. The Raiders would again push the lead to twenty with 1:30 to go on a basket by Williams.
Aaron Watts scored 23 points to lead all scorers while Roark and Dixon added eleven each for the Raiders who improved to 16-5. Cooper led Lincoln with 16 points and Hill finished with 14.
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