Boys Hoops: Eagle Rock Edged By Lincoln on Senior Appreciation Night

On a night when the seniors of the Eagle Rock boys basketball team were honored before the game, Lincoln prevented a post-game celebration for the Eagles by winning its first road game of the season Wednesday night, 58-54, at Eagle Rock High School.

“I can’t really say much,” Eagle Rock senior Heherson Canta said. “We lost, but we should not concentrate on that. It was our last home game. I guess you could say we did our best.”

Eagle Rock (8-9, 3-6 in the Northern League) battled back from a 25-15 deficit by scoring the last five points of the first half. The Eagles then outscored the Tigers 18-9 in the third quarter to build a 38-34 lead.

But it wasn’t enough as Lincoln (5-13, 3-6) fought back behind a balanced scoring attack and exploded for a 24-point fourth quarter to stave off the Eagles.

“I think as a team we finally played a little bit better,” Eagle Rock coach Drew Lord said. “I’m still looking for the right chemistry out there and I had it at times (tonight)."

“They played like they wanted to win,” Lord said of his players. “They played much better defense. We were really frustrating (Lincoln) for a while. We had a few mental errors and they’re just very persistent on offense.”

That persistence was best exemplified by the Tigers' Raymond Maldonado, who scored nine of his 10 points in the fourth quarter, including a drive and finish off the glass that tied the score at 40. Maldonado then hit two free throws to put his team ahead 44-41.

Eagle Rock’s Kyle Enrile hit a 3-pointer that made it a one possession game, 54-51, but Maldonado’s two free throws made it 56-51 as time was running out.

“When we ran our offense we were getting easy scores,” Lord said. “I wish the guys had been doing that all year. And the best thing you can pull out of this was that our defense was much more physical, the way it should have been all season.”

Brian Gyimesi led the Eagles with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Malcomn Elijah had nine points. Enrile scored eight. Gian Imbag added seven. Jacob Garcia had six and Cameron Friedman contributed five points.

Josue Garcia led Lincoln with 12 points, all coming in the first half.

Eagle Rock’s regular season ends Friday night at Franklin, a team that the Eagles defeated at home on Jan. 26. There’s still an outside shot at making the playoffs.

“I’m tired of losing,” Lord said.