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STANFORD — Senior guard Elijah Frye scored 22 points and pulled down seven rebounds as the Lincoln County Patriot basketball team rolled Rockcastle County 63-39 at J.C. Eddleman Gymnasium Friday night in the night cap of a girl/boy doubleheader.’

The Patriots (2-0) never trailed in the game, with Frye, who scored his 22 points on 9-for-15 shooting, igniting a 10-1 opening run with back-to-back 3-pointers. The Lincoln lead was 31-8 at the break and Rockcastle never threatened.

“Elijah played really well tonight on both ends of the floor and did some really, really good things,” Lincoln coach Jeff Jackson said of the senior who also had two steals, a block and an assist.

“It’s a good win. A great win. I thought the first half we probably played as good as defense as we’ve played in quite a while – maybe ever.”

Rockcastle, which was held to 28 percent (13-for-47) shooting from the field for the game, got off to a very icy start with just one of 10 shot attempts falling. That bucket by Logan Noel didn’t come until the 3:15 mark of the first.

Lincoln, which finished at 40 percent on 24-for-60 shooting, missed over half of its shots in the opening frame but six did hit their mark. Bryston Alcorn followed Frye’s 3’s with a bucket in the 8-0 run. Riley Bodner and Frye both tallied inside to push the Patriot lead to 12-3, then Alcorn closed with a buzzer-beating putback for a 14-5 advantage.

A second quarter fueled by its defense helped Lincoln gain control. Rockcastle (1-1) would be held to 1-for-10 shooting in the second quarter as well. Will Bishop, an eighth-grader who led the Rockets with 22 points, scored the lone goal of the period with 3:38 to play in the first half.

Baylor Mattingly, who scored 13 points for Lincoln on 4-for-15 shooting, opened the quarter with a 3-pointer. Jaxon Smith, who had eight points, four assists and two steals, also drained a 3-pointer and sank a free throw as the Patriots started pulling away. Frye and Bodner added two buckets apiece in the second. Bodner, who had eight points and a game-high 16 rebounds, scored the last two buckets of the half after grabbing rebounds to give Lincoln a 31-8 lead at the break.

Rockcastle never challenged Lincoln but the points would start to fall for the Rockets in the second half, with Bishop sparking the offense with 20 second-half points. After a Mattingly 3-pointer to open the second half, Bishop scored five straight goals. The first three produced Rockcastle’s longest scoring streak of six.

“We made it tough on him the first half,” Jackson said of Bishop. “He did a good job the second half. We didn’t do as good a job as we needed to do there. The second half we lost a little bit of focus, a little bit of intensity and lost our composure a little bit out there.”

Lincoln went on to post a 44-21 lead at the end of the third quarter. Alcorn sank two free throws with 3:09 to play in the game for the Patriots’ largest lead, 59-30. Alcorn finished with eight points, six rebounds and three assists.    

The Patriots outrebounded the Rockets 46-28.

“It’s a good win. Just want us to keep our focus for 32 minutes,” said Jackson.

Jackson noted that the Rockcastle game is the only home game scheduled for the Patriots in December. He said the team is a game short. Lincoln is trying to schedule a home game with Danville Christian Academy.

*****

At Lincoln Co.

Rockcastle 5 3 13 18 – 39

Lincoln 14 17 13 19 – 63

ROCKCASTLE (1-1) – Will Bishop 22, Logan Noel 8, Reese Coguer 4, Daniel Mullins 2, Silas Shaffer 2, Andrew Hurt 1.

LINCOLN (2-0) – Bryston Alcorn 8, Tramane Alcorn 4, Elijah Frye 22, Jaxon Smith 8, Baylor Mattingly 13, Riley Bodner 8.