Top seed Cole Camp defeated number eight Lincoln on Saturday afternoon, 43-32 in the Kaysinger Conference Tournament. The first round games were played at Smith-Cotton instead of SFCC due to scheduling conflicts with the Lady Roadrunners.
The game was closer than the 11 point margin indicated. The Bluebirds led 8-7 after one, 16-13 at halftime and 25-22 after three.
Prior to the game, Cole Camp Coach Kevin Shearer said, "You can forget about records and seeds when Cole Camp plays Lincoln. We have a great rivalry. I told everybody if Lincoln is an eight seed, then this conference is pretty good."
Lincoln slowed the game down and Coach Shearer had nothing but praise for Coach Tyler Burke.
"Coach Burke did a great job in slowing down the tempo," he said. "We wanted to run the whole game but couldn't. I said before that Tyler Burke is the best coach in this conference."
Coach Burke comented, "I was pleased with our effort and the way we handled the press. Harrison and Dieckman took over the fourth quarter and made some big shots. We tried to attack Dieckman early. but ended up with Riley Sanders and Ben Eckhoff in foul trouble."
Cole Camp only had three players in the scoring column. Gentry Dieckman, had 18 points and 7 blocked shots in disrupting the Cardinals' victory plans. Reid
Harrison had 19 and Tyler Howard had 6 for all of the Bluebirds' scoring.
Eckhoff led Lincoln with 10 and had a slew of rebounds. Lincoln fell to 4-12 while Cole Camp moved to 13-5.
LINCOLN (32): B. Eckhoff, 10; C. Everhart, 4; R. Sanders, 3; D. Parrott, 7; Z. Cole, 3; X. Smith, 5.
COLE CAMP (43): T. Howard, 6; Dieckman, 18; R. Harrison, 19.
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On Friday, Lincoln won a play-in game against ninth seed LaMonte, 59-43 at State Fair. Lincoln jumped out to a big lead 19-7 at one and 40-13 at the half but faltered in the second half as the Vikings closed the gap. It was 49-28 after three. LaMonte's 1,000 point man Tyler Weber had 20 in the second half for a game high 23. Coach Scott Floyd's team outscored Lincoln 30-20 in the second half.
Lincoln coach Tyler Burke said, " They outplayed us in the second half. I think we looked at the scoreboard and had a let down."
LINCOLN (59): C. Everhart, 11; X. Smith, 9; C. Young, 5; B. Eckhoff, 11; R. Sanders, 14; D. Parrott, 9.
LAMONTE (43): T.Weber, 23; Moody, 5; Mahin, 6; L. Weber, 6; Anderson, 2.
