BOWLING GREEN (Crawford County Now) — In a battle of opposing styles, one stood out above the other.

A smaller Lincolnview team took down a taller and bulkier Colonel Crawford 58-45 in a Division VI regional final Saturday at the Stroh Center on the campus of Bowling Green State University.

“I thought quickness out won strength tonight,” Eagles head coach David Sheldon said. “Defensively, it’s been our thing and their quickness hurt us. They beat us off the bounce. We got beat on some backdoors out of the Princeton (offense).

Colonel Crawford (23-3) fell behind early 9-3 and trailed 14-8 after the first quarter. Gavin Evans’ 19 points topped all scorers and Lancers teammates Max Hammons (15) and Zander Coil (10) complemented him.

“Their offense; they run it smooth. We tried to go over it. Offensively, we shoot 32% in the first half. We only had one turnover. We forgot to make shots,” Sheldon said.

Lincolnview (22-5) advances to the D-VI state semifinals against Marion Local at 8 p.m. Friday at Wright State University’s Nutter Center.

By halftime, the lead was 27-18 with the DeGray brothers (Payne and John) combining for 14 of those.

Brayden Holt struggled with fouls, picking up his second with under 3 minutes in the first half. The all-Ohioan finished with 15 and 3 assists.

“They were great looks. They were the shots we wanted that got us here,” Sheldon said. “That’s the tough thing about the game of basketball. When the ball doesn’t go in the hoop you go home.”

Sheldon credited Evans’ play at the high post and Max Hammons’ overall play.

“That’s a good basketball team and they’ve run that Princeton for three years.”

By definition, the Princeton offense is a highly disciplined basketball system emphasizing constant motion, spacing, and back-door cuts to create open shots, often used by teams to counter more athletic opponents.

That fits Lincolnview to a T.

“You have got to be so disciplined because they’ll reverse you, reverse, reverse and then break you down. And that’s what happened,” Sheldon said. “We had some breakdowns and our gap help wasn’t as good as it needed to be.”

Holt and Payne DeGray rallied CC in the fourth quarter but got no closer than 11 points on a couple of occasions.

“Their quickness got to us,” DeGray said. “We got caught looking a couple times with the back door. They are super-impressive. A great team.”

DeGray has been battling illness the past week.

Evans went 9-of-10 from the free throw line to help seal the game. As a team the Lancers hit on 15-of-18. They had just 6 turnovers to the Eagles 7.

Head coach Brett Hammons credited his team’s effort.

“Our mentality all season is we’re not the biggest team out there. We don’t have much height taller than 6-foot-2, but we do have speed and that’s what we preach to our kids.

“We run a lot in practice and get up and down. I thought we were better conditioned and we’d pull guys out for a little bit,” he said. “We wanted to wear them down and their depth. It isn’t as deep as us.”

Hammons said the tempo of the game was key for his squad against a bigger Crawford unit.

“Our guys got to the basket. Our first step was quicker at times. Max did a good job getting past them. We were able to get downhill quite a bit.”

Sheldon said his team was prepared, having scouted Lincolnview extensively.

“I was disappointed in the second half. They got some key rebounds. Their kids are feisty and play so hard. That’s a team that, by an act of will, got rebounds. Quickness and athleticism overpowered strength tonight.”

“It just didn’t drop tonight, and they attacked the rim all night with their quickness,” Sheldon said. “It’s tough tonight, but when you look back at what they’ve done, two regional trips. Three of the four teams that were here last year with us aren’t here. That’s the thing about tournament basketball.”

Sheldon praised his graduating seniors Payne DeGray, Peyton Baker, Holt and Walker Cramer.

“Brayden carried us for the last two years or we wouldn’t be here. We had to take him out in the third (5:25 mark) with those two charge calls,” he said. “I knew when we had to press them in the fourth, it was over, with their four guards on the floor.

“Brayden’s probably the best guard in the history of the school. You look at Payne and his numbers, 1,000 points, career rebounding leader. An old school back-to-the-basket player. Peyton is a program player; shoots over 40% from 3s all year and steps up. Walker Cramer, he is the ultimate team player,” he said.

“These guys left a mark that I don’t know will ever be matched in my lifetime, with the number of wins. That’s the toughest thing in coaching is saying good-bye.”

Box score

Lincolnview                14      13      14     17 — 58

Colonel Crawford        8      10      11     16 — 45

Lincolnview (22-5): Shots 20-41; 3-pt. shots 3-14 (Chase Overholt, Zander Coil, Jackson Ingledue); Free throws 15-18; Rebounds 28 (Marshall Hammons 6); Turnovers 6. Scoring: Max Hammons 5 5 15, Zander Coil 4 1 10, Jackson Ingledue 1 0 3, Gavin Evans 5 9 19, Chase Overholt 1 0 3, Marshall Hammons 4 0 8.

Colonel Crawford (24-3): Shots 19-45; 3-pt. shots 3-13 (Parker Weithman 2, Brayden Holt); Free throws 4-9; Rebounds 23 (John DeGray 8); Turnovers 7. Scoring: Parker Weithman 2 0 6, Tyler Lash 0 2 2, John DeGray 3 2 8, Brayden Holt 7 0 15, Payne DeGray 7 0 14.