BLUE TIGERS END SEASONS BY TAKING TWO FROM DUSTDEVILS
The Lincoln University basketball teams completed their 2006-07 campaigns by earning single-digit victories. The women claimed a 69-67 win and the men 64-61 on the road at Texas A&M International (Laredo, Texas) on Feb. 24.
The Blue Tiger coaching staffs begin their quest to shape their 2007-08 teams by jumping into the recruiting fray. Each coach is determined to land the right student-athletes to produce a winning team for Lincoln University.
The women who missed the Heartland Conference Postseason Tournament for the second consecutive year have not had an overall winning record since 2003-04 (13-12) and a Heartland Conference winning season since 2002-03 (6-4). In only two seasons during the past 20 years has the women’s basketball team ended with a victorious record; 2003-04 and 1988-89 (14-12).
The men have never clinched a berth in the Heartland Conference Postseason Tournament. The last time a Blue Tiger men’s basketball team had an overall winning record was 14-12 in 2001-02. The most recent occurrence of a winning Heartland Conference record came in that 2001-02 season (7-3). Only three times over the previous 20 years have the Blue Tigers finished with a winning mark; 2001-02, 2000-01 (20-7), 1992-93 (14-12). The last NCAA Division II Tournament appearance by a Lincoln University men’s basketball team was the spring of 1981. In that game, a first round tilt at the University of North Alabama, Lincoln University lost 67-53.
Women’s Basketball
For the first five minutes of the contest the Blue Tigers (8-19) and Dustdevils (11-12) traded the lead often. A jump shot by Vanessa Villarreal pushed Texas A&M International to their final lead of the first half, 11-8 with 15:20 in the half. Rachelle Watkins made a lay-up with 12:11 to play to cap an 11-2 run that gave the Blue Tigers a six-point advantage, 19-13. The Dustdevils narrowed the margin to 22-21 by the 8:59 mark. LaToya Derrick sank a 3-point shot with 3:25 to raise the Blue Tigers to their largest advantage of the game, 37-28. Lincoln University led at halftime 41-36.
The Dustdevils chipped away at the Blue Tigers lead in the second half. Jermina Tomlinson put in two free throws with 13:25 to play that tied the score 49-49. Stacey Smith drained a jump shot with 7:56 to go that completed an 11-4 run by the Blue Tigers. The shot by Smith put Lincoln University back in control 60-53. A 9-3 spurt by the Dustdevils shrank the Blue Tigers edge to one-point, 63-62 with 4:27 left. Texas A&M International continued their pursuit of the lead. The Dustdevils took the lead 67-66 on a three-point play by Mary Tobias with 1:56 remaining. Brezette Elder-Wade put the finishing touch on the game. An Elder-Wade free-throw with 1:06 tied the game 67-67 and her jump shot :02 seconds before the buzzer won the game for the Blue Tigers, 69-67.
Elder-Wade had 22 points for the Blue Tigers. She scored 59 percent (13 of 22) of her points from the free throw line. Elder-Wade had 16 of her 22 points by halftime. Jasmine Washington added 12 points for Lincoln University. She scored 10 points in the second half.
Elder-Wade tied a game-high by pulling down seven rebounds.
Villarreal popped in 29 points on 60 percent (12 of 20) shooting from the field. Of her 29 points, 16 were delivered in the first half. Tomlinson recorded 17 points for Texas A&M International.
The Dustdevils shot 48.1 percent (25 of 52) but missed all nine of their 3-point attempts.
The 14 turnovers by the Blue Tigers ties their second lowest number of turnovers allowed in a game during the 2006-07 season. The Blue Tigers were 2-1 when they committed 14 turnovers or less in a game.
The Blue Tigers forced 27 turnovers by the Dustdevils. It was the third most turnovers committed by Texas A&M International this season. Lincoln University scored 24 points off the miscues by Texas A&M International.
Men’s Basketball
The Blue Tigers win can be attributed to one impressive shooting performance. On a night when the Blue Tigers hit 38.1 percent (24-63), Ralph Mata shot the team to victory. Mata, a junior from Miramar, Fla. dropped in 83.3 percent (10 of 12) of his shots including a 75 percent (6 of 8) performance from beyond the 3-point arc. The remaining Blue Tigers hit a lowly 27.4 percent (14 of 51) from the floor and 3 of 14 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range. The result after 40 minutes of play is what mattered most, a 64-61 season-ending victory on the road for Lincoln University (7-19) over Texas A&M International (12-15).
The sole lead of the game for the Dustdevils was the first score of the game. An offensive rebound by Nick Ochoa shot back up put the home team in front 2-0. The Blue Tigers then began to takeover. Marcus Warren scored the Blue Tigers first four points of the game in a minute to get Lincoln University a 4-2 lead with 17:49 in the first half. Lay-ups from Jared Boone and James Edwards pushed the score to 8-4 by the 15:30 mark. Mata and Jordan Rush generated the next 19 Lincoln University points. Back-to-back-to-back 3-point shots from the duo made the advantage 17-8. A three-point play by Rush and the Blue Tigers were doubling up the Dustdevils 20-10. Mata drilled his third of four first half 3-point baskets and netted a jump shot to raise the Blue Tigers lead to 15 points with 10:16 left in the half. The 15-point margin was the Blue Tigers largest advantage of the game. By 9:12 on the clock, the 19-9 surge had earned Lincoln University a 27-13 edge and left Texas A&M International enshrouded in dust. The Dustdevils closed the lead to three points four times in the last seven minutes of the first half, the final instance coming following a jump shot from Martell Lewis made the score 33-30 with 2:40 to play. An 8-0 half-ending blast in the concluding 2:26 on a basket by Warren and consecutive 3-point buckets from Edwards and Mata allowed the Blue Tigers to hold a 41-30 halftime advantage.
Lincoln University came out of the locker room cold. The Blue Tigers missed eight of their first 10 shots to start the second half. The Dustdevils got back in the game by connecting on 62.5 percent (5 of 8) of their attempts to start the half. A 14-6 spree by Texas A&M International sliced the lead to 47-44 at 13:45. Six of the 14 points in that run were a result of rebounding. Two defensive rebounds (Chris Swan and Ochoa) led to a Lewis jump shot and lay-up by Swan. An Ochoa defensive rebound ended with a Swan slam dunk off a pass from Leon Jacob. The teams traded points for the next 6:18. Swan hit the front end of two free throws at the 7:27 mark to narrow the lead to 55-53. As the Blue Tigers clung to a slender lead, the Dustdevils worked the margin to a single point on three different occasions before tying the game. Angel Encinas made the back end of a two-shot free throw opportunity that tied the game 61-61 with 1:48 to play. Brandon Harris made the game-winning lay-up off a pass from Boone with 32 seconds left. Mata preserved the 64-61 win by hitting the first of two free-throws with 11 seconds to go.
After a hot first half when the Blue Tigers hit 50 percent of their shots (16 of 32) and 54.5 percent from long range (6 of 11), they became chilly in the second half. Lincoln University cooled to 25.8 percent (8 of 31) in the last half, 3-11 beyond the arc (27.3 percent).
Swan manufactured a double-double performance 25 points and 14 rebounds for the Dustdevils. He notched 13 of his 25 points in the opening half. Swan ripped down 9 (7 defensive) of his 14 rebounds in the second half. Lewis rattled in 14 points for Texas A&M International.
Mata racked up 18 of his career-tying and game-high 27 points in the first half. He set his career-high a week earlier (Feb. 17) in a Heartland Conference victory 87-72 in Jason Gymnasium over Oklahoma Panhandle State University. Jordan Rush completed his collegiate career by scoring 18 points. It was the second highest point producing game of the season by Rush. He scored 19 points in a New Year’s Eve loss (Dec. 31, 2006, 101-84) at Arkansas Tech University. Rush scored 10 points in the second half to help the Blue Tigers claim victory over the Dustdevils.
