Prep boys basketball: Sacred Heart pulls away from Lincoln for courtwarming win

The Sacred Heart Gremlins must have learned their lesson.

Three days after almost blowing a big lead in an 84-77 victory over Cole Camp, the Gremlins closed the door on the Lincoln Cardinals on Friday night in an 86-59 Kaysinger Conference courtwarming win at Sacred Heart School.

Both teams came out shooting to start the second half. The Cardinals, who trailed 41-22 at halftime, sliced their deficit to 13 (56-43) as the teams traded baskets for most of the quarter.

The Gremlins, who stretched their home winning streak to 26 games and  captured their 36th consecutive win against Kaysinger foes, fought back with a 7-0 run. Garrett Strange had a steal and a layup, Stefan Cox scored on a putback, Jared Dey made 1 of 2 free throws and Caleb Morrison’s jumper followed one of Lincoln’s five third-quarter turnovers to increase the Gremlin lead to 63-43.

After a putback by Garrett Dulaban, Morrison made a jumper and Jerrion Jackson followed a turnover with a layup to give Sacred Heart a 67-45 lead going into the fourth.

“I thought we had good energy tonight,” Sacred Heart coach Steve Goodwin said. “We took it to the basket. We got shots we were capable of finishing.”

Lincoln never came closer than 20 points in the fourth quarter, as each team gave playing time to their reserves.

Overall, Sacred Heart, the No. 2 team in Class 2, shot 77 percent (34 of 43) from inside the arc with most of the points coming from under the basket or on short jumpers.

All 11 Gremlins who competed Friday night scored points in a balanced attack.

Jackson and Cox led the Gremlins with 16 points each. Morrison had 14, Dey added 11 and Strange had 10. Lakin Kehde finished with nine points on 3-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.

The Gremlins (13-0, 5-0 Kaysinger) ran their offense almost flawlessly, as players passed up tough shots and passed to open teammates who finished around the basket.

“If one person has a little success against us, they’re going to do this,” Goodwin said. “We were kind of prepared for a sagging man. If somebody’s gonna have a book on you, they’re going to try this, so we work on it. We’re going to get better with whatever they come up with.”

Terry Bickers scored a game-high 19 points for Lincoln, and teammate Dulaban had 15.

The Cardinals (4-10, 4-2) committed nine first-quarter turnovers, and Sacred Heart built a 22-9 lead. Strange made three straight baskets at one point, and Kehde sank two 3-pointers.

Sacred Heart padded its lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 19-13 with Jackson and Morrison each scoring four points in the second.