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East Lincoln teams lose close games to East Gaston TERRANCE THOMAS, LTN Staff Writer Jan. 21, 2002 - DENVER — The East Lincoln basketball team hosted the most feared team the Big South 3A Conference Friday. East Gaston and 6 foot-9 inch center Tyler Berg came into the game as perhaps the best team in the conference. The Warriors held on to win 51-49 but were no longer feared. The Mustangs held them to no baskets in the fourth quarter and proved they can play with anyone in the league. But they would have preferred a win. “It’s a tough loss,” said Blake Ketner who scored six points. “We played as hard as we could. But we couldn’t pull it out. I’m looking forward to the game this week. We didn’t give up. It showed we can play with the best.” The home team Mustangs rallied back from a nine points down in the half and took the Warriors to the wire. The Mustangs trailed by one point with under three minutes, turned down open jumpers and tried to force the ball only to turn the ball over on its last two possessions. “We made a nice run to get back in it,” said East coach Neil Hodges. “We didn’t execute at the end.” The Mustangs did a fabulous job defending Berg. They held him to four baskets. He had 11. However, guard Jason Sumpter was the one that gave the Mustangs the fits early. He had 21 in the first half and finished with 25. East Lincoln got a tremendous performance from Tripp Miller who had a team-high 20 points. Miller was tough on both ends of the court. He guarded Berg at times and even blocked his dunk. Miller made a great save on a loose ball and threw it in to start a fast break that Arthur Whitt scored on. Cory Howard and Jason Burgess added eight and seven points, respectively. East Gaston edges East girls The Lady Mustangs’ game went past the wire. Tiffany Finandis hit a bank shot at the buzzer to send the game in overtime. But from there East Gaston’s Brooke Richardson took over. The point guard hit nine of 10 free throws in overtime to give the Lady Warriors a 64-56 win. It was one of losses that will be hard to shake off. East Lincoln led 43-33 early in the fourth quarter and 49-43 with less than three minutes to play. But the Lady Mustangs played the final moments of the fourth quarter like the final moments of the first quarter. “We could have won,” said Finandis. “We should have held the ball at the end. We made some stupid turnovers.”
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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