NEWPORT NEWS, VA. - A hot shooting Apprentice School men's
basketball team torched the nets at a 62% clip in the second half
to outscore the Lincoln Lions 54-36 en route to an 80-71 victory on
Saturday afternoon.
In the first half, Lincoln held a lead for the majority of the
stanza taking as much as a 12-point advantage on a Julian Hall
3-pointer with 2:21 left to go up 32-20. The Apprentice
School had shooting issues in the first half only hitting 9-of-38
(23.7%) as they trailed 35-26 at intermission.
As was the case with their last two games, the Builders exploded
in the second half starting it on an 18-7 run to take their first
lead since 2-0 on a Jason Arrington jumper with 14:12 left to lead
44-42. That bucket was in the midst of a 12-2 run that put
the Builders eventually ahead 52-44 on an Antione Paige layup with
11:47 left. Lincoln had one last run in them cutting that
deficit to 54-53 on a Dominic Washington free throw with 9:44
left. That was as close as the Lions got the rest of the
game.
In the second half the Builders shot 18-of-29 from the floor
(62.1%) while holding the Lions to 11-of-32 from the field (34.4%)
and forced 13 of their 22 turnovers in the second half.
Arrington was the leading scorer for Apprentice School with 19
points, while Eric Ruffin added 15 and freshman Norman Washington
recorded his first collegiate double-double with season highs of 11
points and 16 rebounds. He and junior Stanford Johnson (11
rebounds) helped the Builders to a 55-43 advantage on the boards.
Apprentice School is now off until February 19 when they travel
to Buena Vista, Va. for a rematch with Southern Virginia
University.
APPRENTICE SCHOOL 80, LINCOLN UNIVERSITY 71
LINCOLN (2-19): Blanton 3-16 5-8 12, Johnson 3-11 2-2 10, Kakulu
4-9 0-2 8, Washington 3-7 3-4 9, Wooten 3-7 0-1 6, Harper 0-3 0-0
0, Hall 6-9 4-4 21, Smith 0-2 0-0 0, Lloyd 1-6 2-2 5, Lee 0-0 0-0
0. Totals 23-70 16-23 71.
APPRENTICE SCHOOL (14-11): Smith 1-6 2-3 4, Spratley 3-5 2-2 8,
Ruffin 7-12 0-0 15, Paige 2-9 4-4 8, Johnson 3-6 0-3 6, Cherry 0-0
0-0 0, Davis 2-4 1-2 5, Thompson 1-3 1-2 4, Arrington 5-16 9-13 19,
Washington 3-6 5-8 11. Totals 27-67 24-37 80.
Halftime: Lincoln 35-26. 3-point goals: Lincoln 9-30
(Blanton 1-10, Johnson 2-7, Harper 0-2, Hall 5-7, Lloyd 1-4);
Apprentice 2-13 (Ruffin 1-2, Paige 0-3, Davis 0-1, Thompson 1-1,
Arrington 0-6). Rebounds: Lincoln 43 (Wooten 12); Apprentice
55 (Washington 16). Total fouls: Lincoln 26, Apprentice
21. Fouled out: Spratley. Assists: Lincoln 16 (Kakulu
8); Apprentice 16 (Ruffin 5). Technicals: Blanton, Arrington,
Cherry. Att.: 392.
