Lincoln 102
Grady 73
The Lincoln Railsplitters were humbled. Sure, they had already begun to dominate the PSAL, but they were supposed to do that. But a loss to St. Raymond’s nine days ago had tarnished what they had hoped would be a perfect season.
“We didn’t want to lose in the city,” senior guard Stew Graddick said yesterday. “This is our city.”
Evidently, the humility only lasted so long. Graddick and his cohorts have righted the Lincoln ship, back to winning resoundingly. They did so again yesterday, as the Splitters went on the road – sort of – and routed Grady, 102-73.
“It’s real important that we win every game in the league,” said Sebastian Telfair, who led all scorers with 32 points as Lincoln improved to 8-1, 8-0 in Brooklyn I-A. “We want to let everyone know that we’re going to be back for another championship.”
Regardless of how far the defending champs go, few victories will be sweeter than this one. The Lincoln players walked to Grady (6-3, 4-3), since the two Coney Island schools are located just minutes from each other.
“This is the biggest rivalry in the city,” said Graddick, who poured in 24. “We’re always up for this game.”
While there was plenty of motivation against the Falcons, Lincoln will likely have a hard time staying focused, since it has developed a penchant for beating teams by upwards of 40 points.
“It’s not that exciting,” Telfair said. “But it’s better than losing by 30.”
True. And for a while yesterday, the young, athletic Grady squad took it to its more experienced foes, taking an eight-point lead early in the second quarter. But a 10-0 run put Lincoln up 30-28 and it never trailed again. Its players made sure there would be no repeat of the St. Raymond’s game.
“That definitely had an effect,” Telfair said. “It was a good effect. We started working harder.”
It paid off. Grady, faced with foul trouble throughout the game, couldn’t keep up.