January 24, 2008
Lincoln Edges Needles in OT

Photo by Dave Maxwell Chris Shinkle gets behind Needles' Dillon McAndrews

By Dave Maxwell, Staff Writer

It didn’t look like it would be a close game, but a strong second half by Needles made it that way. Lincoln survived 80-79 in overtime, however, only by the hair of their chinny, chin, chin.

The Mustangs Darra Russell, third best scorer, in Greater Nevada, pumped in 36 points, half of them on 3-pointers, to give the Mustangs the chance they wanted.

Russell led a 23-point fourth quarter rally and Needles had the lead 68-67 when Dantley Walker was fouled on a three-point try with only 0.5 of second remaining. He missed two of the three foul shots, but the one he did make sent the game into overtime. Walker and Kevin Hannig accounted for 21 of Lincoln’s last 25 points.

Russell continued to pile up the points, in the overtime, but so did Walker, scoring 8 of the Lynx’s 12 points in the extra period finally forging an 80-76 lead on a pair of free throws by Walker with 9 seconds left and Lincoln then allowed a 3-pointer by Doniven Anderson as time expired.

Mustang Coach, Jeff Plank, said Needles just played harder on defense in the second half, controlling the boards and often allowing Lincoln only one shot, “And that’s what got us back into the game, our defensive stops and rebounding the ball. We’re a tough team. We’re going to go after it, no matter if we’re ahead by a lot or behind by a lot.”

Lincoln Coach, Mike Wood, said, “It was an ugly win. I felt we started pretty well, but we just didn’t continue with the hard work and effort and they out rebounded us in the second half to get two, three, four shots every possession. It’s hard to beat a team if you are giving them three or four looks and you’re only getting one look.”

Wood had high praise for Darra Russell. “He is a phenomenal athlete. If you sag off him to stop him and not let him penetrate, then he’ll start burying those 3s from three or four feet behind the arc, ” he said.

Kevin Hannig finished the game with 16 points, Chris Bernal had 17 and Chris Shinkle scored 11 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Stevie Kidd had 23 points for Needles and Don Anderson contributed 12.

In the girls game, league-leading Needles (20-3) had strong second and third quarters to win going away over Lincoln 61-46.