Local musician Jim Duff has the blues

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I never heard anything impressive on his site at all....read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

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Patti Strand, of the National Animal Interest Alliance, author of "The Hijacking of the Humane Movem...read more...

Humane Society comes under fire in local farming magazine

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I work at the HSUS, and I’ve also worked at several animal shelters. Shelters do great work – ad...read more...

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Double-digit efforts by Pulaski’s Tyler Jenkins, Kody Johnson, Taylor Gover and Zach Eastham added up to 55 points and a victory as the quartet led the Maroons in a comeback 66-60 win over host Lincoln County Monday at LCHS.

Jenkins, a senior, poured in a team-high 18 points, Johnson and Gover, both freshman starters, had 15 points and 12 points, respectively, and Eastham, a junior, added 10 points.

Johnson scored 10 of his 15 points in a 16-2 third-quarter Maroon rally that erased an eight-point Lincoln lead and put Pulaski in front to stay.

The Maroons (7-16), who had trailed up until the rally run, led by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter as they moved on for the victory.

Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson was not happy with his Patriots’ effort in the loss.

“We’ve talked all year that we’ve got to find something, as they say, that we can hang our hats on. Something that we do consistently well every night. The one thing you do that should be a given is your effort, and we’re not consistent with our effort,” he said. “We played terrible Friday (Mercer), except for one quarter. We played our best game of the year Saturday (Lexington Christian). I mean, we played really, really well. Everything we did was good. Then we come out here tonight ... ”

“We got off to a great start then we stop guarding them and let them get shots,” Jackson said. “Any time you have a team that shoots the ball really well, and they’ve got kids that can shoot it, you can’t stop guarding them. You’ve got to defend.”

Matt Cooper, who had 13 points for Lincoln, hit back-to-back goals early in the third to give the Patriots a 33-25 lead. Pulaski opened the door for Lincoln to build on its lead by turning the ball over twice, but the Patriots didn’t answer.

“We had it to eight in the second half and we had two possessions to go up 10. The opportunity was there,” said Jackson. “But we didn’t take advantage. We came back and had back-to-back turnovers and they scored. And they kept scoring.”

Johnson ignited the Pulaski comeback. After grabbing a Lincoln miss, the freshman guard took the ball down and nailed a 3-pointer to open the 16-2 rally. He followed with a three-point play and another foul shot then closed the run with another triple.

The Maroons took their first lead of the game with 3:28 on the clock when Jed Mounce bombed in a 3-pointer to move Pulaski on top 35-33.

Lincoln’s only goal in the run, a Ronnie Sharp basket, tied the game at 35-all. Freshman guard Tyler Goins broke the tie with a free throw and a followup basket to put Pulaski up for good, 38-35, then Johnson connected for his final trey of the night, giving the Maroons a 41-35 edge with 1:13 left in the third.

Lincoln (14-9) was 10-for-21 from the field the first half, but struggled in the third, connecting on only four of 13 shots attempted. And Lincoln grabbed only one offensive board in the period.

Pulaski was not much better from the field in the third, going 5-for-12, but the Maroons did pick up three 3-pointers and go 5-for-7 at the foul line to take a 43-37 lead into the final period.

Zack Hill, who led Lincoln’s scoring with 18 points, was already spending time on the bench with three fouls when Lincoln lost another starter – Cooper.

The senior guard already had two personal fouls when he was whistled for a third on Johnson early in the fourth quarter. In confronting Johnson after the foul, Cooper was then hit with a technical.

Johnson hit the front end of the one-and-one then Jenkins toed the line for the two technical free throws. On the ensuing possession, Jenkins took it to the paint to nose the Maroons up 47-37 with 7:18 to play.

“Him and Zack have got to be out there on the floor,” said Jackson. “We’ve got young, inexperienced depth and they can’t make those type of fouls. And Matt can’t get a technical foul. That’s unacceptable. He’s got to understand his importance on the floor and he’s got to control his emotion.”

The Maroons posted their biggest lead of the night, 52-39, midway of the fourth after an Eastham 3-pointer and two Gover free throws.

A Hill three-point play late in the fourth got Lincoln within 64-60 but Pulaski held on for the win.

“We didn’t step up and take care of business tonight,” said Jackson. “We didn’t defend. We missed shots. We were 12 out of 20 from the line. We took quick shots, ill-advised shots. We just didn’t come ready to play, and that comes back to me not having them ready to play.”

Lincoln was 21 of 51 from the field overall while Pulaski was 16 of 42. The Maroons outshot Lincoln at the foul line, going 27 of 34.

Lincoln led throughout the first half, posting its biggest lead in the first quarter. Trenton Edgington and Cooper both connected for 3-pointers to give Lincoln the early lead and an 8-0 run midway of the period put the Pat lead at nine. Matt DeBord, Sharp, Cooper and Hill scored a bucket apiece to give Lincoln a 14-5 lead.

With tournament time drawing near, Jackson says things have got to change if the Patriots are to have any chances in the post-season.

“We’ve got to get consistent,” he stressed. “If we’re going to make a run and try to win our district and go to the regional tournament, we’ve got to get consistent. We’re 23 games in and 64 practices and we’re not there.”

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