SAN DIEGO PREP BASKETBALL : Lincoln Beats St. Augustine to Take 2-Game Lead in City Central League

SAN DIEGO — It is traditional for teams to celebrate after winning a big game. Friday afternoon, Lincoln High Coach Ron Loneski took his boys’ basketball team out for pizza before its City Central League showdown against St. Augustine.

Loneski insists he didn’t have any premonitions, but . . .

“We had finals all week and the kids have been working very hard,” he said. “They’ve also been playing very well and they deserved a reward.”

Friday evening they continued that trend of good play and rewarded their coach in a big way. The Hornets defeated the Saints, 73-67, at St. Augustine, and in doing so put themselves in position to win the league championship.

Lincoln (10-6) has won 9 of 11 games. More importantly, it is 5-0 in league play and leads the pack by two games. St. Augustine, which could have moved into a tie for first with a victory, is 3-2 and 9-8.

“I would have choked our guys if they would have lost,” Loneski joked. “That pizza cost me about $60.”

The Hornets weren’t about to let their coach, or themselves, down. They took a 7-0 lead after two minutes and were never headed.

They led by as many as 58-45 with 7:05 left. But to the Saints’ credit, they never folded. They got within 67-64 with 57 seconds remaining, but two free throws by Anthony Johnson and another by Lamont Horne iced it for Lincoln.

“We’re unpredictable because we like to run and we don’t shoot free throws very well,” Loneski said. “But these kids have a lot of heart. You’ll never see another team outplay these guys.”

Now Loneski likes his team’s chance to win the league.

“The pressure is on the other guys,” he said. “They’ve got to come and get us. Anything can happen, but with the way our kids our playing, it’s going to be difficult for someone to beat us.

“Our goal when the league started was to win our first five games. Now, we want to win the rest of them and go to the playoffs.”

Shelby Hall led Lincoln with a 19-point, 11-rebound performance. Horne scored 14, Roger Johnson had 12 and Omar McDade added 11.

Overshadowed by the Hornets’ victory was a brilliant performance by St. Augustine’s Charley Applegate, who had game-highs of 23 points and 11 rebounds. Tony Evenson and Joe Shandley each scored 16 and Doug Carter had 12 to complete the Saints’ scoring.