KENTFIELD — On Thursday night, the Lincoln Mustangs proved they weren’t just capable of beating up on the little guys.
Facing a Marin Catholic team with a disproportionate size advantage, the Mustangs used a 22-13 second quarter to take the lead into halftime, stayed in front throughout the third and then dominated the final period, outscoring the Wildcats 26-5 across the last frame for a 75-49 win in the second round of the CIF Division III Tournament.
“The (City) championship and our last game really helped our poise, and we stayed together,” head coach Carl Jacobs said. “We usually put our heads down when things aren’t going our way, but we kept our poise and in the second quarter we picked up our defense.”
A team that had made no shortage of highlight-reel plays in past outings but was often beset by poor body language or careless mistakes looked like a refined, experienced unit after the first quarter. Lincoln (22-3) took the lead for the first time on a 13-0 run in the second quarter, with Justin Aquino scoring eight points and Riordan transfer Quentin Kennedy, who joined the team at the end of January, knocking down a three. Fourth-seeded Marin Catholic (23-10) went back ahead at 31-30 on a Cade Maas 3-pointer, but Aquino hit another three with 29 seconds left in the half to send the fifth-seeded Mustangs into the break up 33-31.
Aquino’s shot turned out to be the one that put Lincoln ahead for good. He hit four 3-pointers in that second quarter and a fifth with five minutes left in the third to give the Mustangs a 45-37 lead, and twin brother Jeremyah Aquino’s three-point play off a steal made it 49-42 with 2:04 left in the third after the Wildcats had gotten a 3-pointer from Kyle Winters, who finished with 16 points. The Mustangs scored the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to pull away, with Jeremyah scoring on a steal and layup and Jordan, the lone senior and the eldest of the Aquino brothers, hitting two free throws for a 61-44 advantage with 5:04 on the clock.
“We want to wear you down for the whole first half, and then for the second half, they have dead legs,” said Jeremyah, who finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds.
The three brothers outscored the Wildcats by themselves, with Justin scoring a game-high 21 and Jordan adding 15, but they had a substantial supporting cast as well. Nikita Kartsev scored all 11 of his points in the fourth quarter and finished with 10 rebounds to record a double-double, scoring three times on putbacks in the final minutes as the Mustangs pulled away. Kennedy scored nine, all on 3-pointers.
“We ultimately couldn’t handle their pressure,” Marin Catholic head coach Mike Saia said. “They just kept coming. They were relentless.”
It was a sour end for a Wildcats team that finished atop the MCAL standings in the regular season and finished second in the NCS Division 4 Tournament, and it happened on a night that got off to a promising start. Winters scored the team’s first seven points and Noah Deitch had the final 11 of the first quarter for the hosts, who went on an early 8-0 run and led 18-11 after a period. That advantage was 23-14 early in the second quarter when Maas hit a three off Dylan Ryssemus’ fourth assist, but everything unraveled from there.
“We had some turnovers, we missed some bunnies and they were unstoppable,” Saia explained.
While Lincoln will head to Chico to face top-seeded Pleasant Valley (29-3) on Saturday, Marin Catholic’s season is over. Thursday marked the end of the line for seven seniors, including six of the seven players who saw substantial minutes.
