Sports - January 2004

Wolves win sixth consecutive game

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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The Lincolnton Wolves were going for their sixth consecutive victory Tuesday night against the Shelby Golden Lions and they earned it with a 63-50 win.

The Golden Lions jumped out to an early 5-3 lead with 5:35 left in the opening quarter.

However, when Darren Wilson followed his own missed layup with a putback it put the Wolves up 11-7 with 3:12 remaining.

The Wolves defensive intensity, in route to win No. 6 in a row, was high with the zone defense causing several Shelby turnovers.

With 1:52 left in the first two Brant Eagle free throws made the score 15-9 Lincolnton’s lead.

Guard Darren Wilson had five points in the opening quarter.

The beginning of the second quarter was more of the Wolves. An Eric Wilson up and under scoop layup with 6:07 and completed three-point play made extended Lincolnton’s lead to 10, 19-9, with 6:07 remaining in the second quarter.

Another Wilson layup, this time an offensive rebound and putback, made the score 24-15 with a little over three minutes left in the half.

Shelby went on a 4-0 run, via the fast break, to narrow the margin to five, 24-19 with 2:24 left in the second.

Eric Wilson, however, was quick to answer with another offensive rebound and putback. This time for a three-point play to make the score 27-19 Wolves’ favor.

Darren Wilson then hit a three-pointer to put the Wolves up 30-19 with 1:15 left in the half. The momentum was clearly in Lincolnton’s corner.

With the Wolves holding for the last shot a Darren Wilson screen led to a rainbow three-pointer by Eric Wilson that hit nothing but net to give the home team a 35-21 halftime advantage.

Eric scored 10 points in the second quarter, while teammate Jordy Jefferies had four.

In the second half the momentum continued. A Josh Keener three-point play off a Jefferies’ feed made the home team’s advantage 38-23 not even a minute into the second half.

Everything was going Lincolnton’s way. Even as Eric Wilson slipped and fell on his way to the basket he kept dribbling  and passed the ball to Jefferies for an open jumper with 5:16 left in the third to give the Wolves a 41-25 lead.

However, the Golden Lions refused to let the door be shut so soon. Guard Scooter Lawrence hit one of his three three-pointers in the game to make the score 46-30 with 3:18 left in the period.

Two Darren Wilson free throws got the lead back up to 15, 48-33, with 1:54 left in the third

After another 4-0 Shelby spurt Wilson connected on two more from the charity stripe to give Lincolnton a 50-37 advantage.

However, Golden Lions’ guard Chase Price connected on a three-pointer with :20 seconds left to bring the Lions closer 50-40 at the end of the third period.

Darren Wilson had six third quarter points, while Jefferies had four.

A little over a minute into the final quarter a Lawrence pull-up jumper and ensuing three-pointer brought the Golden Lions within five at 50-45.

Off a Wolves’ miss Keener made perhaps the biggest play of the contest gathering the ball and laying it in for a three-point play to give the Wolves a 53-45 lead with 6:15 left in the game.

Head coach Bob Cowie was impressed.

“They had cut it down to five and he made a big play. It was certainly a huge play. Josh played well for us tonight,” he said.

Keener was a force, along with teammate Eric Wilson, on the boards all night long for the Wolves.

“I was trying to make sure they didn’t get it in on the baseline and get rebounds and putbacks,” Keener said.

With slightly more than three minutes in the game, Eric Wilson swatted a Golden Lions’ attempt thwarting any Shelby points.

A Jefferies’ jumper from the baseline made the score 59-47 with 2:06 remaining and the Wolves never looked back cruising to their sixth consecutive victory.

Lincolnton received one of their most balanced scoring games of the season. Eric Wilson led all scorers with 17 points, Darren Wilson and Jefferies both contributed with 16. Keener also was in double figures with 11.

Eric Wilson believed the key to the Wolves’ balanced scoring was teamwork.

“We were getting good shots on offense and moving the ball, so it wasn’t like Darren and me were just doing our thing,” he said.

Eric said Jefferies was particularly helpful.

“Jordy (Jefferies) played probably his best game of the year for us,” he said.

Cowie believes that the Wolves become a much stronger team when they have several people step up on the offensive end.

“Anytime we can get balanced scoring it’s obviously going to help us. When people step up besides just Eric and Darren it only makes us that much better,” he said.

Scooter Lawrence paced Shelby with 13 points, while teammate Rob Canoy added 10.

Darren Wilson said it was a total team effort for the Wolves.

“My game wasn’t that good tonight, but I’m just glad some of my teammates came through to help me, like Eric Wilson one of the leaders of the Lincolnton Wolves,” he said.

Darren Wilson believed the Wolves’ intensity picked up in the second half.

“We got kind of sloppy there in the first half, so I’m just glad we picked it up in the second half. We came out and played hard and got steals,” he said.

Cowie was pleased with his team’s defense.

“I think it was the key to the game. We worked on what they were going to do with their zone offense and we did a very good job defending it. We also didn’t let them have offensive boards,” he said.

The Wolves. win makes them 11-3 overall and 3-0 in the Midwest 2A Conference.

Shelby- Scooter Lawrence 13, Rob Canoy 10, Chase Price 5, Van Eskridge 8, Ed Gullatte 6, Andrew Vincent 5, Brandon Surratt 6, Mario Harrison 2.

Lincolnton- Darren Wilson 16, Eric Wilson 17, Jordy Jefferies 16, Josh Keener 11, Brant Eagle 4, Kyle Snyder 2.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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