The Lincoln boys’ basketball team was understandably tired when it hit the court against Cardinal Hayes on Monday less than 24 hours after a hard-fought victory down in Washington D.C. But after two quarters of sluggish play, Railsplitters coach Kenny Pretlow appealed to his players at the half.
“I told them we can either say we played yesterday, got back late, we’re tired — or we can say that we have to elevate and pick ourselves up,” Pretlow said.
The team didn’t take the easy way out and make excuses, but instead burst onto the court with renewed energy after the break.
Junior wing Jahlil Tripp scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. The Railsplitters’ star freshmen Paul Person and Tyler Bourne then helped Lincoln pull away in the fourth quarter for a 55–52 victory over Cardinal Hayes in the Big Apple Basketball Invitational at Baruch College on Monday afternoon.
The win comes after Lincoln beat host Calvin Coolidge 68–65 on Sunday afternoon at the Martin Luther King Classic in our nation’s capital. The team got home after midnight on Monday.
“We didn’t have too much rest, and then had to get right back up and hop on the train to get here,” said Tripp, who also added six rebounds. “We were sluggish, but at halftime we talked and shook the jetlag off basically, and then came out and played Lincoln basketball.”
Person scored 14 points and Bourne had 11 for Lincoln. Ezekiel Charles also chipped in 11 points. Bourne ended each of the first three quarters with a late basket, including a 35-foot three-pointer to tie the score at 21–21 at the half.
“That gave us more momentum because we started out the first half playing bad,” Bourne said. “That gave us momentum to swing into the beginning of the third quarter.”
Person took the baton from Bourne in the fourth and helped ignite an 11–0 run that put Lincoln up 40–31 with 5:11 to go in the game. His three-point play during the spurt was crucial because it fouled Hayes forward Kashif Davis (13 points) out of the contest. Hayes (9–5) was already thin on the front line with center A.K. Ojo out with a knee injury. Getting Davis out of the game allowed the Railsplitters, who played zone in the second half, to take further control of the boards.
“Once our offense got going, I knew we would be alright,” Pretlow said.
The run ended with Person throwing a behind-the-back pass to Bourne for a three-pointer. Hayes got within 48–43 with 1:12 to play in the game, but Lincoln made its free throws down the stretch. The play of freshmen Person and Bourne this whole season is a big reason for Lincoln’s success, but Person takes his early success in stride.
“I don’t think about being a freshman,” Person said. “I just come out here and play basketball.”
Lincoln is now 17–2 — a record most people outside of Coney Island may not have expected with the number of star seniors Lincoln lost after last season.
Things won’t get any easier with league games against South Shore and George Westinghouse this week after a long but successful weekend, but the Railsplitters don’t plan to see this momentum halted.
“I think the beginning of the season we expected to play hard,” Tripp said. “We worked hard in the summer playing AAU, and got chemistry. We knew we were going to have a good season if we stuck to the game plan and played our game.”