Gaines Can’t Prevent Lincoln Disappearance

OAKLAND —  Carl Gaines stood alone in the gray hallway outside Lincoln’s locker room. His teammates had already filed in to try to put together the pieces of a game they should not have lost.

Not Gaines. He just stood outside and cried.

Gaines said he was crying partly because his Lincoln High basketball team had built a 16-point lead in the second half but lost to Daly City Jefferson, 76-71, in the state Division III final Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

But there was much more to it than that, Gaines said. He said he had felt as if he were alone; that his teammates, many of whom Gaines had played with since the ninth grade, were not there when he needed them.

“I felt like I was out there by myself,” Gaines said. “At one point, I said, ‘Where is everybody?’ When I was upset, it wasn’t so much because we had lost the game. I just felt alone.”

Gaines had reason to feel that way.

He scored 25 points; Lincoln’s next highest scorers were Joe Temple and Kenny Hawkins with 12 each. Gaines, a 6-foot guard, even led the team with 10 rebounds and had 3 steals.

Lincoln (26-3) normally features balance; six players average in double figures. Saturday, it looked like a one-man team.

“It is obvious that some players played well, and some didn’t play worth . . .,” Lincoln Coach Ron Loneski said. “Carl was one of the ones who played well. Some didn’t play with much intensity.”

That was especially true in the second half.

Lincoln had built a 44-31 halftime lead by hustling all over the floor and beating up on Jefferson’s smaller team inside. Lincoln outrebounded Jefferson, 30-22, in the first half. The three starting inside players, Roger Johnson, Temple and Aaron Wilhite, combined for 17 points.

Wilhite and Johnson disappeared in the second half. Both picked up their fourth fouls early in the third quarter. Johnson was 0 for 4 shooting after halftime; Wilhite was 1 for 4. Jefferson (33-1) outrebounded Lincoln, 28-22.

“I don’t know where I was,” Johnson said. “I did some things I shouldn’t really do. But Carl sure came through for us.”

Gaines was the one who gave Lincoln the 16-point lead. After a steal, Gaines made a behind-the-back dribble to get around Jefferson’s Darryl White and score to give Lincoln a 49-33 lead early in the third quarter.

Lincoln looked to be on another one of those scoring runs that it has had in each of the previous playoff victories.

It had gone on maybe its most impressive streak of the season in the first quarter. Trailing, 9-4, with 4:55 left, Lincoln outscored Jefferson, 19-3, and led at the end of the period, 23-12.

But the third-quarter run was short-lived.

Two free throws by Jefferson’s Teeter Marshall and a layup off a rebound by Bryan Thomasson made it 49-37. Then Thomasson, who played poorly in the first half, hit a three-pointer to cut it to 49-40. Marshall made a two-hand slam to cut the lead to seven a couple of seconds later.

Gaines scored twice off the fast break, but then Thomasson and Jefferson began the final run to their 24th straight victory.

Thomasson, who finished with 32 points, scored most of his 16 third-quarter points by breaking Lincoln’s full-court press. He’d stand near half court, take a cross-court pass and drive to the basket. There was no one there to stop him.

“The wing is supposed to anticipate that pass,” Gaines said. “We weren’t doing that. We played terrible defense. It was the ruination of our state championship.”

Thomasson really appeared to fire his team up with 3:48 left in the third when he had an exchange with Johnson. Only Johnson was called for the foul; Thomasson made two free throws to make it 53-48. The play appeared to get Jefferson and its several hundred supporters into the game.

“Our guys have never played before a crowd like this before,” Gaines said. “They rattled our guys. We made a lot of turnovers; they took us out of the groove.”

Said Johnson: “When I looked up and saw what a big crowd they had, my intensity dropped. All these people rooting for one team . . . there was no one on our side.”

Daly City is located just south of San Francisco. Lincoln, with much more of a trip involved, had only a few fans at the game.

With the crowd screaming, Jefferson went on a tear. Thomasson scored twice off the break and hit a three-pointer to make the score 61-60, Lincoln, as the quarter ended.

The fourth quarter was not much different. Gaines’ solo performance was not enough. He scored six in the fourth, and Temple had four. No one else scored.

Marshall, who finished with 24 points and 18 rebounds, and Thomasson scored off breaks to give Jefferson a three-point lead, 68-65, which it maintained through most of the quarter.

Thomasson made a three-pointer right over Hawkins with 2:56 left to give his team a 76-69 lead and assure the victory.

After Temple scored, Jefferson stalled 1:31 off the clock before Thomasson was fouled and missed a free throw with 36 seconds left.

All Lincoln could do was throw up three-pointers and hope. It was Gaines who shot the last one. It rattled around and fell out. No one was underneath to rebound the miss.