It was an unusual scenario Friday, Jan. 3, when the Lincoln boys basketball team hosted Monroe Central in a nonconference game between two potential sectional rivals. It is customary for teams to play a junior varsity game before the varsity game. On Friday, the two schools added a third game, playing a C-team game before the JV game. The Bears won the C-team game 64-43. Even though the Eagles lost, it was their highest point production of the season. Bryer Shelton led the young Eagles with a season-high 21 points.
The Bears also won the JV game, pulling away late to win 41-30. Trevor Zaffe led the Eagles with 11 points and Mason Dick scored 9 points.
By the time the varsity teams took the floor for pre-game warmups, the crowd had grown to near capacity. The two teams, coached by brothers Brian and Rodney Klein, both came into the game with identical 7-1 records and both saw the game as a measuring stick.
The game lived up to the pregame hype. Five different Lincoln players scored to take a 12-11 lead after the first quarter. The Bears got 12 second-quarter points from 6-foot-5 wing Easton Foster to forge ahead 29-28 at halftime. Freshman sharpshooter Luke Morgan scored 10 third-quarter points to help give the Bears a 50-44 lead entering the final period.
One minute into the fourth quarter, Foster scored on a breakaway dunk to give the Bears their biggest lead of the game at 54-46. Less than a minute later, Lincoln senior Aidan Munchel was forced to leave the game because of illness.
An Oliver Webb 3-pointer with 4:06 remaining cut the Lincoln deficit to 60-53, but they could never get closer and the Bears went on to take a hard-fought 65-56 win.
Foster led the Bears and all game scorers with 28 points, and Morgan scored 15 points. The Eagles countered with impressive balance, placing four players in double figures. Noah Patterson and Evan Stuckey each scored 12 points, Webb scored 11 points, Dustin Lunsford scored 10 points and Munchel added 9 points.
Monroe Central (8-1) 11 18 21 15 65
Morgan 15, Carter Wheatley 5, Justus Ullom 7, Jackson Konkle 5, Foster 28, Carter Duncan 5, Ladanion Isom 0 — Total 65
Lincoln (7-2) 12 16 16 12 56
Patterson 12, Lunsford 10, Stuckey 12, Webb 11, Carson Hawk 2, Aidan Munchel 9 — Total 56
A version of this article appeared in the January 8 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.