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RICHMOND — Jaxon Smith, Elijah Frye and Bryston Alcorn all reached double figures as Lincoln County topped South Laurel 54-40 Saturday night in the Brent Ray Classic at Madison Central HIgh School.

Smith led Lincoln with a game-high 23 points on 8-for-12 shooting. He also had four assists and three rebounds. Frye contributed 18 points on 6-for-7 shooting and also had three boards and Alcorn tallied 11 points on 3-for-6 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds as the Patriots handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season.

“It was a big win for us because they’ve got a heck of a basketball team,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said. “I thought our defense was really, really good tonight. I thought we guarded really, really well. It was a good win over a good basketball team.”

Lincoln (4-0) had a hot hand in the road win, connecting on 60 percent of its shots from the field or 18 or 30 shot attempts. The team was 6-for-14 from 3-point range and went 12-for-16 at the foul line.

South Laurel (5-1) never led in the game, with the offense hitting the deep freeze in the opening frame. The Cardinals, who finished at 34 percent from the field (13-for-38), got just two of their 12 first-quarter shot attempts to fall as they fell behind 12-5.

The game was tied at 5-all with three minutes left in the first when Smith drove inside for a bucket to spark a 7-0 closing run for the Patriots. Frye followed with a 3-pointer then Smith went in for a layup just before the buzzer for the 12-5 lead.

The Cardinals started putting up points in the second quarter, adding 13 points to their score on 5-for-14 shooting. But the Patriots would pick up 15 more points of their own to up their lead to 27-18. Alcorn and Smith each had a 3-pointer in the second.

Matthew Cromer, who led South Laurel with 19 points, scored eight points in the third quarter as the Cardinals outscored Lincoln 15-10 to trim the Patriot lead down to 37-33 going into the fourth quarter.

That would be as close as South Laurel would get, though, as LIncoln closed on a 17-7 scoring run to earn the 54-40 win. Cromer scored all of South Laurel’s fourth-quarter points.

“They’ve got a good basketball team and they get after you. They played really well tonight,” Jackson said of the Cardinals. “The Cromer kid is really good and I thought Elijah did a really good job on him tonight.”

Lincoln doubled-up South Laurel on the glass, grabbing 28 boards to South’s 14. Riley Bodner crashed the boards for 12 rebounds.

“Riley just had two points tonight but he did a great tonight on the defensive end and rebounding,” Jackson said. “He passed the ball well out of the post. He’s continuing to improve and that’s something we need.”

*****

Brent Ray Classic

At Madison Central

So. Laurel 5 13 15 7 – 40

Lincoln 112 15 10 17 – 54

SOUTH LAUREL (5-1) – Micah Anders 3, Brett Norvell 6, Alex Hostettler 7, Caden Jones 5, Matthew Cromer 19.

LINCOLN (4-0) – Bryston Alcorn 11, Elijah Frye 18, Jaxon Smith 23, Riley Bodner 2.