“We started off well,” Reeder said. “We were doing the things we needed to do. We attacked their zone in the middle and knocked down some good shots.

“Then we just stopped,” he added. “We settled for the first available shot instead of working the ball and taking the shots we wanted. You have to be patient against them. They try to force you to take shots they want you to take. They are really good at their coverages. Sometimes you feel like they’ve got six guys out there.

“Effort was not our problem. Our effort was great. It was our execution that got us.”

Despite a lack of patience, the Shoes were in the game throughout the second half. Late in the third quarter, they cut the lead to one and had two possessions to take the lead. Reeder said they took bad shots on both of those possessions and never got closer than four the rest of the way.

With 30 seconds to play in the game and trailing by four points, Brendan Niebrugge had a 3-pointer that rattled in and out.

“If he makes that, who knows what happens,” Reeder said.

Lincoln attacks at both ends of the floor the entire game.

“They press you the whole game and also run a great offense,” Reeder noted. “For 32 minutes, they’re working hard the whole time. It just wears at you, both mentally and physically. It wasn’t a great night for us, but to Lincoln’s credit, they just played tougher than we did.”

Lincoln’s Landon Hullinger and Dylan Singleton combined to score 36 of the team’s points. Hullinger finished with 22 and Singleton added 16.

Addis led the Shoes with 11 points and Evan Wermert, who was in foul trouble the entire game, finished with 10.

“We did not play a very good game,” Reeder said. “Evan only played about half the game because of foul trouble. And yet, we were right there. Like I said, our effort was great.”

T-Town, now 1-1, is right back at it today (Saturday). The Shoes will return home to face Lawrenceville. The varsity game is scheduled to start at approximately 4:30 p.m.