SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) coach Michael Peck challenged
Winston Shepard to become an interior presence the Pilots have been lacking for most of the season.
On Monday, the 6-foot-8 forward announced his presence by throwing down an emphatic one-handed slam during a 17-0 run as the Pilots (19-2) won their second consecutive game in as many days 68-59 over
Lincoln (Dallas, Texas) (21-2) as part of the Spalding Hoophall Classic on the campus of Springfield College.
"I just wanted to make a statement," Shepard said.
Shepard's throw down followed a tip-in that broke open a 40-37 ballgame in the third quarter as Findlay held Lincoln scoreless for a stretch of six minutes during the third and fourth quarters.
Peck, who called this a "huge turning point" for Shepard's confidence, made some adjustments at halftime with his team holding a 35-31 lead in hopes of taking advantage of his team's conditioning against the larger Tigers.
"We had to come out and initiate our offense in a rested position," Peck said. "Let them burn a little of the 30 second shot clock and make them feel a little bit more hurried and rushed."
However, Lincoln coach Leonard Bishop felt it was more of a lack of execution on the Tigers part.
"I really don't think it's what they did so much as what we didn't do," Bishop said. "We didn't run our offense correctly and didn't score. They did a great job of running their system."
For the second consecutive game, senior
Nick Johnson (19 points) shutdown another future Division I talent when Peck had the 6-3 guard defend Lincoln's 6-7 forward
LeBryan Nash.
The future Arizona Wildcat held Nash (Oklahoma State) to 23 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Johnson held both Nash and future Syracuse Orangeman
Michael Carter-Williams of
St. Andrew's (Barrington, R.I.) to 14-of-41 (34 percent) from the field.
"They both went for 20," Johnson said. "My job is to make them work for every shot and I believe I did that."
Nash knew they had a game plan for him; he just didn't know it was going to be Nick Johnson.
"I thought I should have taken it to the hole more and got more calls but that's part of the game," Nash said. "We weren't ready for them. We thought we could come in here, play our game and just go out there and walk away with a win."
Shepard, who finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, admitted playing against Nash, a good friend, gave him extra motivation to perform at the highest level. He also believes the two wins at the Hoophall Classic will propel Findlay toward a strong finish over the season's final haul.
"This is a big momentum game for us," Shepard said. "We were coming off a loss [68-66 to Norcom] and we wanted to get that off our backs. We got that, and we're going to be pushing forward."
