Senior guard Shane Lynch and his West Lincoln teammates werefull of confidence entering Thursday night’s encounter with theBrookhaven Panthers. That positive attitude was evident as theBears dumped the visiting Panthers 58-44 in Jack CaseGymnasium.

Senior classmate Stephen Jones led the West Lincoln scoringparade with 16 points. Aaron Shaw and Bradley Rice scored 12 apieceand Lynch netted 11.

“We were confident,” said Lynch. “We were looking forward tothis win for a while.”

For Lynch and Jones, it was the first time for them to beat theClass 4A Panthers. The Class 1A Bears are 2-0 on the season andplay at Franklin County next Tuesday.

“Our post players stepped up and did a good job,” said Lynch.”They were freshmen last year.”

On the backboards, Rice grabbed 10 rebounds. Jeremy Byrd had 9rebounds and Jones 7

Ole Brook (0-3), was down 11 points, 29-18, at halftime. Coachedby Ronald Hines, the Panthers fell behind 33-18 when guard AaronShaw cashed in a steal with a field goal early in the thirdquarter.

“We played up and down tonight,” said West Lincoln coach LaneYoung. “We let (Panthers) back in the game in the second half. Wewere lucky. We rebounded the ball well at the end and made our freethrows.”

The Panthers pulled within 7 points twice, the last time at43-36 on Michael Washington’s short jumper, with 6:12 left in thegame. The Bears netted 11 of 13 free throws down the stretch as OleBrook’s Chris Daniel and Terrance Perkins fouled out.

For the game, West Lincoln made 25 of 32 free throws compared toBrook’s 6 of 10.

“Rebounding and a lack of scoring hurt us,” said Coach Hines.”We were struggling in the first quarter. We had trouble in ourtransition game.”

The Panthers were plagued by turnovers. They were shorthanded onthe backboards, due to the graduation of three post players, plusthe absence of some football players who are involved in the stateplayoffs.

Travis Nelson paced the Panthers with 9 points and Washingtonscored 8. On the backboards, Daniel and Washington each had 5rebounds.

The Brookhaven Invitational starts Monday in Sinclair Gymnasium,with the hosts playing Wesson at 6:15 and 7:45.