Sports - November 2003

Last second heartbreak for North

Published November 24, 2003

By JOHN MARK BROOKS, Staff Writer

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The Chad Wright era at West Lincoln is off and running.

The Rebels defeated the North Lincoln Knights 43-42 Friday night. A big reason for the victory was Ryan Huffman.

With 10 seconds left in the contest Huffman drove the lane and hit a running jumper to put the Rebels up by one point. Head coach Scott Sekal called a time-out to give the Knights a chance for their first win. But Huffman was not finished with his clutch antics as he came off his man and stripped the ball handler to secure the victory.

Wright said he doesn’t take anything away from his opponent.

“You got to give North a lot of credit. They came out pretty emotional and did a good coaching job by making adjustments from the first game,” he said.

Although the Knights are inexperienced Wright believes they have ability.

“They are a dangerous team. They have quite a few players that can knock down some shots,” he said.

Chase Caldwell and Taylor Woodie paced the Rebels with 10 points each. Ty Curtis contributed with seven points. Huffman had five points to go along with five assists.

Kenny Bethea from North Lincoln led all scorers with 20 points. Spot-up shooter Wayne White chipped in with eight. Wright said Bethea is tough to defend.

“He’s a big kid that can step out and hit the perimeter shots which presents a match up problem for you. Their players and their coach got him the ball in areas where he could be effective,” he said.

Wright was happy with the win and wants the win to serve as momentum for the Rebels’ season.

“You want to start out 2-0. Hopefully, that will be something to build on. We need to play a lot better,” he said.

An area that concerns the coach is his team defense.

“We were very flat on defense. In particular, in our man-to-man our technique was poor. They weren’t staying in their stance, weren’t boxing out and got caught not seeing the man and the ball. That’s an area of concern because that needs to be consistent for us,” Wright said.

Rebounding was a strong suite for the Rebels. Huffman, B.J. Holland and Matt Cook all raked in seven boards in the ball game. Wright was pleased with the Rebels’ overall rebounding.

“We did a pretty good job on the boards. We had a whole lot of help from our perimeter guys. Those three did a good job. Our rebounding was what probably allowed us to win the game,” he said.

Wright believes his team showed one very important characteristic.

“Even though we didn’t play at our best, we found a way to win the game. That’s what good teams do. We won that game on guts and heart more than anything else,” he said.

North Lincoln falls to 0-3 on the young season while West ups their record to 2-0. East Lincoln next for the Knights on Tuesday.

West Lincoln: B.J. Holland 2, Matt Cook 1, Taylor Woodie 10, Chase Caldwell 10, Josh Fisher 2, Ty Curtis 7, Ryan Huffman 5, Matt Edwards 2, Jake Elmore 4.

North Lincoln: Loftin 3, White 8, Thompson 4, Bethea 20, Smith 4, Mintun 3.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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