A near-capacity crowd witnessed a shootout between rivals Hagerstown and Cambridge City Lincoln at the Eagles Nest on Tuesday, Feb. 11. Offense trumped the defense for four quarters of run-and-gun basketball. The first quarter set the tone for the night.
Hagerstown hit four 3-pointers, putting 20 points on the scoreboard, but trailed the Eagles, who hit five 3-pointers, by the score of 21-20. There were four lead changes and four ties as the Tigers scored 24 more points in the second quarter to build a 44-40 lead at halftime.
The Eagles opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run to retake the lead. Dustin Lunsford hit a free throw and Aidan Munchel scored a 3-pointer, then a 2-pointer to propel the Eagles to a 46-44 lead. Kaagen Kendall and Noah Patterson traded baskets to restore the lead to Lincoln before Landon Lawson scored on a rebound basket and a free throw to give the lead to the Tigers for good.
The Tigers went to the fourth quarter holding a 62-54 lead. The Eagles never retook the lead, but Munchel scored inside, stole the ball and hit a 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining to pull the Eagles to within 2 points at 74-72. The Eagles got their deficit to 2 points again at 76-74 before the Tigers closed out the game from the free throw line.
Munchel led the Eagles and all game scorers with 31 points, Lunsford scored 16 points and Ryne Sturgis scored 12 points. Kendall led the Tigers with 24 points, freshman Jaykob Troutwine scored a career high of 23 points and Lawson scored 18 points.
Lincoln head coach Rodney Klein said Troutwine’s performance was unexpected. “I give Hagerstown a lot of credit, they shot the heck out of the ball tonight,” Klein said. “I have watched their last five games, and I have never seen them shoot like that. It was a great game for the fans to watch. Someone had to lose, and tonight that was us. The Troutwine kid really impressed me tonight. He is a special freshman that can flat out play.”
Hagerstown head coach Mark Doerstler said it was a good win for his team. “It was a great game to watch,” Doerstler said. “We hit the free throws down the stretch that we had to hit to win. I am proud of our effort.”
Hagerstown (6-11, 2-4 TEC) 20 24 18 20 82
Troutwine 23, Isaac Schmitz 7, Anthony Kelley 5, Kaden Hall 0, Graham Vinson 3, Kendall 24, Lawson 18, Griffin Doerstler 2 — Total 82
Lincoln (11-6, 3-3 TEC) 21 19 14 22 76
Noah Patterson 7, Lunsford 16, Evan Stuckey 4, Sturgis 12, Carson Hawk 0, Elijah French 3, Munchel 31, Oliver Webb 3 — Total 76
JV results: Hagerstown 50 (Jonny Howard 15), Lincoln 32 (Clayton Vickers 9)
A version of this article appeared in the February 19 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.