The Lincoln County Middle School boys basketball teams walked away with two of the top prizes up for grabs in the finals of the Salt River Conference (SRC) Postseason Tournament at Mercer County Middle School.

The sixth-grade and seventh-grade Eagles, the SRC regular-season champions and the tourney’s No. 1 seeds in their divisions, finished out the season on top as the sixth-graders defeated Bondurant Middle School in the postseason final and the seventh-graders cruised over Danville Bate Middle School for the title win.

The Eagles would emerge as champions in all three divisions contested, however, it was the Boyle County Middle School Eagles claiming the eighth-grade championship win. Boyle dominated in a 62-36 win over the Lincoln County Eagles.

Results from the championship games follow:

6th Grade

Lincoln 56, Bondurant 44
Lincoln County used a 21-9 second-quarter run to open up a tight game in the 6th Grade Salt River Conference Tournament final and set the Eagles on course for a 56-44 victory against Bondurant Middle School.

The score was deadlocked at 11-all at the end of the first quarter before Lincoln (30-8) broke on the 21-9 run to distance itself from Bondurant and post a 32-20 halftime lead.

The margin remained at 12 at the final horn, with both teams scoring 24 points in the second half. Bondurant edged Lincoln 10-8 in the third then the Eagles were back on top in scoring in the fourth quarter, outpointing Bondurant 16-14.

A trio of Eagles led Lincoln to the championship win, with Connor Davis, Blade Nuckols and Sawyer Horton combining for 43 points. Davis paced Lincoln with 17 points, Nuckols followed with 16 points and Horton finished with 10 points. Davis and Nuckols also had five assists apiece.

Jackson Withrow contributed six points in the win, Elan Lane had four points, nine rebounds and three steals and Seth Horton had three points.

In addition to the SRC regular-season and tournament championships, Lincoln’s sixth-grade team, which was led by coach Steve Ralston, also took the runner-up trophy in the 12th Region Tournament and made a Sweet 16 appearance in the KBA 6th Grade State Tournament.

7th Grade

Lincoln 75, Bate 48
Four Eagles finished in double figures as Lincoln cruised to a 75-48 win in the 7th Grade Salt River Conference championship game at Mercer County Middle School.

Colton Ralston led the Eagles (31-4) with 19 points, Zack Moore finished with 14 points, Layne Lark pushed in 13 points and Tramane Alcorn rounded out the quartet with 11 points. Moore had a game-high 17 rebounds in the win. Ralston also had five rebounds and three assists and Alcorn grabbed seven rebounds and had five assists.

Play was close in the first period, with Lincoln just edging Bate 14-12. The Eagles blew the game wide open over the second and third quarters, though, outpointing the Bulldogs 40-16. Lincoln outscored Bate 14-8 in the second to take a 28-20 halftime lead then scorched the nets for 26 third-quarter points while holding Bate to just eight points for a 54-28 margin going into the fourth quarter.

Trevor Miracle and Jackson Sims both finished with five points, Jansen McAninch had four points and four assists, Jason Petrey had three points and Bo Wallin had one.

Along with their SRC titles, the seventh-grade Eagles, who are coached by Carl-Lewis Cummins, added a runner-up finish in the 12th Region Tournament.

8th Grade

Boyle 62, Lincoln 36
Lincoln County, which finished as runner-up in the Salt River Conference regular-season standings and entered the postseason tourney as the No. 2 seed, could not break through to gain the top spot in the 8th Grade Salt River Conference championship game, falling 62-36 to rival Boyle County.

Lincoln (23-8) found itself battling from behind early, with Boyle leading at the end of every quarterstop. The Eagles trailed 11-6 at the end of the first and the deficit had grown to 31-14 by the half, with Boyle breaking on a 20-8 second-quarter run.

Boyle would outscore Lincoln 44-16 over the second and third quarters, as Boyle came out after the half to blast Lincoln 24-8 to make it 55-22 going into the final frame.

Lincoln did outpoint Boyle in the fourth quarter, but the 14-7 scoring advantage was not enough to overtake Boyle.

Lincoln’s scoring leader in the game was Zack Young with seven points. Lee Amon followed with six points, Colin Green, Layne Lark and Zack Moore each had four points, Jansen McAninch also had four points along with two steals, Lawson Hon and Colton Ralston had two points apiece, Tramane Alcorn also had two points along with four rebounds and two assists, and Clayton Davis had one point.

The eighth-grade team is coached by Eric Ralston.