Lincoln Trounces Jefferson-Lite

BROOKLYN, NY - 44.4.

Remember that number…

Abraham Lincoln was on the court warming up. The Junior Varsity game had just ended and the Varsity was on the court getting ready to play Jefferson. The gym was packed. Spectators had paid a premium price for a high school basketball game. There was a buzz in the crowd.

Thomas Jefferson ran out onto the floor like they always do. They looked familiar but different. Something was a little off. Real quick, in your own head you think, I know this is Jefferson, but it’s not Jefferson. Then it clicks.

Shamorie Ponds in a sweat suit, not a warmup. Ponds had a baseball cap on his head, and his shoelaces were untied. His backcourt mate Rasheem Dunn was in a sweat suit too. A few more players that usually start weren’t dressed to play either.

Lincoln gave an uninspired effort for most of the game until it finally clicked late in the fourth quarter. That was when they remembered they were better and started to dominate the Jefferson backups, players that usually sit on the bench, and pull away. They finished Jefferson off with a score of 87-54. Lincoln gave them the death blow as the clocked ticked down.

Cahiem Brown dunked on a breakaway with less than a minute remaining. The game was a little wide open and Jefferson turned the ball over and Brown found himself in the open court with the ball once again. This time he went up and attacked the rim with a hard, reverse two-handed dunk. Brown was Lincoln’s high scorer with 23 points.

The dunk brought the house down. People ran onto the court, hopped out of the stands. They had picked up their stuff and were walking right out the gym. The game was over in their minds, the dunk killed it like it was the middle of summer at the park. School safety tried to get the people back in the stands and let the game end.

There were 44.4 seconds left in the game. You knew that was coming.

After a few minutes and not a lot of success getting people back into the bleachers, they game was finally called and Lincoln got the W.

Dwayne “Tiny” Morton was asked what he thought about where most of the starters didn’t play the last league game of the season.

“I don’t know why a couple guys didn’t play. I can understand the playoff seeding… but as a kid, as seniors, you should want to play every game, man.” Morton said he understood players sitting out in the NBA. “But for somebody to do that in high school, that was kind of weird.”

He was asked if he ever saw that happen before. Morton said he never did. He admitted that it almost worked because the team got frustrated the other kids weren’t playing.

But he did come up with a theory why Pollard decided to sit his players.

“I think they were scared of us or scared of us beating them with their whole team and having to deal with us in other games,” Morton said. “So it’s kind of like, you know, those guys [are] always crying… especially K.P. (Kenny Pretlow). He cried last year about playing a team 4 times. Maybe it’s one of his ways of not playing a team 3 or 4 times.”

Jefferson Assistant Coach & Former Lincoln Head Coach Pretlow sees things differently, saying, "I doubt anyone is scared to play in this rivalry. The last playoff team [Morton] coached was upset by a team he was playing for a 4th time. It's just tough to beat teams 4 times."

Sophomore guard Donald Flores scored 17 for the Railsplitters, while junior guard Rakym Felder added 21.

Lawrence “Bud” Pollard had a simple reason for not playing Ponds, Dunn, and others.

“I just pulled a Popovich, a Bud-ovich,” Pollard joked, referring to San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich who is known to rest his players during the season.

Pollard said he was resting his players because they had clinched with their win over Robeson on Sunday. The game against Lincoln didn’t matter to them. Obviously, they have their eyes on a much bigger prize.

“We’re the division champs, we sealed the division championship. So we had that locked and the number one seed in the boroughs”

Pollard said the reason he played the kids that usually sit on the bench was because he wanted to put them in a real game situation and see who he would be able to count on in the playoffs.

Jamiri Lewis led Jefferson with 14 points and 4 threes. Junior Marques Watson added 12 for the Orange Wave.

“I wanted to throw them out there and see who was playoff ready” Pollard said. “Right now the rotations are going to be cut, its playoff time. I want to see who could come in here, in a hostile environment, against a tough opponent… it don’t get no tougher…and see who can do something”