Lincoln Finishes Regular Season With Quality Victory Over East

DENVER - The question of who would take second place in the Denver Prep League was asked and answered on Friday night.  Both Denver East (15-8) and Lincoln (18-5) entered the final regular season game with 6-1 conference records, good for a tie in second place behind Montbello.  The Lincoln Lancers showed their quality in front of the enthusiastic Camelot Crazies, beating the Angels 75-65.

Junior forward Dominic Williams led the Lincoln effort with a highly efficient 26 points.  Williams started early, tallying seven points and four rebounds in the first quarter. 

For East, buckets were hard to come by.  Coming off of the bench in the first quarter and providing instant offense was senior spot-up man Elliott Zettas, who swished two three pointers and a jumper for eight lightning quick points.

The first quarter belonged to East, but the game was essentially won in the second quarter.  Lincoln started the frame trailing 19-16, but turned that around quickly.  In the second, Lincoln’s bigs led the way to a 41-29 advantage, outscoring the Angels 25-10. 

There were two exceptional plays in the second which epitomized the effort and hustle of Lincoln.  First, Lincoln reserve point guard Jose Zamora poked at an East ball-handler around mid-court, and with the ball belonging to nobody, Zamora laid out horizontally.  Zamora, in the air, scooped the ball to senior Shomari Rogers who went hard to the basket and laid it in, plus a foul.  Zamora said, “I just see loose balls, and whenever I see loose balls I like to get on the floor, and to get it to my teammate is even better.”

The second play was executed by a couple of junior forwards, Corey Vasquez and Dominic Williams.  With the clock running down, Williams passed up an open three to dish to Vasquez, and then cut to the basket.  Williams curled around a screen and came open under the basket with less than a second left.  Vasquez passed back to Williams, and as the clock expired Williams volleyball set the ball softly into the bucket.

“Dominic Williams was going to need to touch the ball a lot tonight,” said Lincoln coach Vince Valdez.  “Not necessarily to score, but we wanted the ball to go through Dom.  Dominic is a great scorer, but he’s also a terrific passer, and that’s what makes him pretty darn good.”

The second half featured strong execution by the Lancers.  East’s backcourt press usually gives teams fits.  On Friday the Lancers used multiple ball-handlers and screens to cross the timeline without worry. 

East Coach Rudy Carey was less than pleased with his team after the game.  When asked about their effort, coach Carey said, “Lack of effort.  Not effort, lack of effort.  We shouldn’t have to coach effort.”

One East player who could not be faulted was senior Chance Moore.  Moore may have waited too long to take over, but when he did, he was very impressive.  Moore finished with 16 points, six rebounds, seven assists and five steals.

East can take heart from the return of Senior shooting guard Alex Merriex.  Merriex has missed the last couple weeks with an ankle problem, but made his return Friday.  Although not all the way back into the flow, Merriex did score ten points.

Lincoln has won its last three games, but none bigger than this one against East.  Coach Valdez said, “It was so much fun.  There has become a new found rivalry between Denver East and Lincoln, and that speaks volumes about where our program has come, because East is held in such high regard.  So yeah, this was a fun game.”

Contact the writer at csilverman@milehighhoops.com.