LINCOLN — Gravette (7-9) held Lincoln (7-6) scoreless for more than four minutes in its boys' basketball game at Lincoln on Friday.

Gravette was ahead 7-0 midway through the first quarter, but Lincoln finished the quarter strong and led by the end of the first quarter and then went on to earn a 55-40 non-conference victory.

It was the first game for Lincoln since prior to Christmas. Because of homecoming festivities, it also was played before the girls game.

“After three weeks off, we came out pretty good,” Lincoln coach Tim Rich said. “They got over it after the homecoming andwalking with girls and all that stuff. Once they calmed down and got it going, they did what we wanted.”

A pair of baskets by Dakota Leming in the final30 seconds of the first quarter gave the Wolves a 13-12 lead after one.

The teams traded leads early in the second quarter before a basket by Leming broke a 17-17 tie. The Wolves finished the first half on an 8-2 run to take a 25-19 lead into the locker room.

Leming and Horacio Escareno scored eight points apiece for the Wolves. Zach Summers had 15, and Cheyenne Vaughn led the team with 19.

“They found the open person and worked (the ball) around, inside and outside,” Rich said. “I couldn’t have been morehappy with them.”

Gravette briefly cut the deficit to two points early in the third quarter, but from there it was all Lincoln. The Wolves led 42-28 by the end of the third and were comfortably ahead the rest of the way.

Gravette senior CodyMontee led all players with 21 points. Matthew VanOtterloo added nine.

“They’re so athletic and long, they make us completely perimeteroriented,” Gravette coach Dustin Peters said. “We didn’t shoot the ball like we needed to compete, and they’re so good on the boards.

“They’re not going to give you extra chances. Our margin for error was zero,” Peters said.

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Gravette 55 Lincoln 38

GIRLS - Gravette (9-7) raced out to a 20-9 lead after a quarter and was ahead the rest of the way.

Gravette’s Shelby Newell scored 20 points to lead all players. Shyanne Nichols added 14 for the Lady Lions, and Samantha VanOtterloo scored eight.

Makayla Baldritdo led Lincoln (3-10) with 12 points. Haley Summers scored 11.

Sports, Pages 7 on 01/12/2011