Lincoln Tips

'Cats, 55-52

TACOMA – Close came the Wildcats of West but the Lincoln Abes held on for a 55-52 Capital league prep cage victory last night, the fourth setback for the Bremerton quintet in five tries at Tacoma rivals this winter.

Les Dicks of West claimed game individual scoring honors with 18 points and J.D. Tamerius tallied 12 in pacing the Wildcats attack that almost upset the circuit runners-up.

Lincoln had a trio in double figures with both Dave Williams and Gary Walker hooping 13 and Les Morse 10. Williams also claimed 13 rebounds in the department that the Abes dominated 48-36.

HIGH JUMPING of the Lincoln crew was more than West could cope with although the margin of difference was close most of the way and the ‘Cats even had the lead briefly in the second period.

At halftime, Lincoln led 29-26 although Dicks had meshed 11 points at that stage of the fray.

The teams swapped bucket through the third panel with West cutting the gap by a single free throw to trail only 36-38 going into the last eight minutes.

Abes swept away to a 47-39 peak but Wildcats volleyed for five straight points. Lincoln moved to a 49-44 count but Fred Kegel put in a pair of free throws and Tamerius followed with a lay-in that made it 49-48 with 2:06 left in the game.

The last minute and a half was a succession of crises. West, in possession, called time out. Following lay-in failed to fall in and Lincoln grabbed the rebound. A foul gave Lincoln a chance to increase the lead but the Abes missed the opportunity. However, Williams tipped in the rebound to make it 51-48.

ABES WENT INTO a full-court press.

Kegel’s pair of free throw offset the Lincoln bucket, but Williams came back with two free throws.

Dicks made a lay-in, again narrowing the spread to one but Morse made good on two chances at the charity stripe to complete the scoring.

West would have had another chance but its inbound pass was stolen and Williams dribbled out the clock.

Win put Lincoln just a half-game behind Stadium – last night’s 61-51 winner over Wilson – in Captial league title chase. Lincoln is 3-1, Stadium 6-1.

Wildcats outscored the Abes from the field but didn’t have the accuracy. Lincoln put in 18 of 46 field attempts for 39.1 per cent in West’s 19 of 55, 34.5 per cent.

AT THE FREE throw line, West sank 14 of 22 and Lincoln meshed 19 of 31 – more than enough to account for the triumph.

Centers for both quintets fouled out of the contest, Walker of Lincoln and Dan Shedwin of West. Usual double-figure scorer Shedwin was held to four points when he bowed out. Three other Wildcat had four personals weighing them down in the tight late going.

Friday, West host Shelton in an Olympic peninsula class AA tournament trail tilt, the important pursuit for the Wildcats where they are unbeaten.

Statistics

B Team Game

West (43) - Gordon, Richardson 9,  Gran 9,  Shute 14, Chamberlain, Tobacco 11;

Lincoln (47) - Lion 12, Hook, MacDicken 13, Pettersonn 3, Kerol, Stewart 9, Baines 2, Roning, Miller 3, Wilson, Crawford 2, Arger 3.

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