Eighth Wonder: After uncertain past, Lincoln Prep rises to top of Division IV Select Basketball
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The emotions were all-encompassing for Lincoln Prep basketball coach Antonio Hudson.
With each second ticking off last Friday’s clock, and his team in clear control of their Division IV select state championship game with Southern Lab, Hudson’s mind drifted in a variety of directions.
Lincoln Prep, the No. 1 seed, put together a wire-to-wire performance in taking a 69-42 victory at Burton Coliseum in Lake Charles. It was the Panthers’ first state championship under Hudson and the first in 34 years since Grambling Lab’s last of seven state titles under legendary coach Michael Lyons.
The day before Lincoln Prep’s state championship game, Hudson received a phone call from Lyon’s son, Jermanus, who made him aware of the irony the team faced in their title meeting against Southern Lab.
Hudson was accustomed to receiving calls of encouragement from Lyons, his coach at Grambling Lab, who passed away in 2023. The Panthers’ third state title appearance under Hudson was scheduled on March 13 – the exact date of Grambling Lab’s final title under Lyons in 1992 or 34 years earlier.
“When he asked me what tomorrow was,” Hudson said of his phone conversation with the younger Lyons, “I didn’t know that date.”
Lincoln Prep delivered a lights-out performance where they never trailed. The Panthers built a double-digit lead 11 minutes into the game, which waned in the final minute before halftime, dropping to as few as six points.
They regained that double-figure margin within the first two minutes of the third quarter and stretched that lead to 44-27 on consecutive field goals from Trey Spann that forced Southern Lab into a timeout.
Lincoln Prep outscored Southern Lab 18-6 in the quarter, building a 20-point lead, and Jabari Levingston’s three-point play with 5:25 to play provided a 57-32 margin.
Levingston capped his Most Valuable Player performance in the tournament with 28 points – 14 in each half – and Spann added 16 and Zion Hicks 12.
Southern Lab didn’t reach 40 points until the last 4 ½ minutes in the game, becoming Lincoln Prep’s fourth opponent in the playoffs to score less than 50.
Not only had Lincoln Prep (30-3) won a state championship on the exact date 34 years after its predecessor Grambling Lab’s last title, but it came against the school’s arch-rival that had knocked them out of the playoffs the year before in the semifinal round (51-46).
There was further meaning tugging at Hudson’s heart.
He recalled the bumpy path Lincoln Prep traveled since it was forced to cut all ties to Grambling State University and not be able to use any of its facilities.
That led to a nomadic existence where not only did the school face an uncertain future, but athletic teams were forced to play off campus.
The school’s name was officially changed to Lincoln Prep in 2017, and it wasn’t until five years ago that the school break ground on an 85,000 square foot campus – approximately two miles from Grambling State’s footprint – with glistening new buildings to house 654 students (K-12) and athletic facilities.
They now have a state championship trophy in basketball to showcase.
“It shows the resilience of the kids and the trust of the parents and support from the community,” Hudson said.
Michael Lyons built a dynasty at Grambling Lab, where he won a total of 1,171 games with 737 for the boys, which also included seven state championships.
Hudson was part of the school’s powerhouse and averaged 30.5 points and 10.5 rebounds as a senior. During his career, Grambling Lab was a state runner-up in 2000.
“Playing for him, there were different aspects of our relationship,” Hudson said. “He taught me as a player. He taught me as a coach. He taught me as a man and a father, and then he taught me as an administrator. One of the things that he kept saying until the day that he passed was to keep fighting.
“We always remained competitive,” Hudson said of Grambling Lab. “He (Lyons) said to keep fighting, your time will come.”
Hudson became the first graduate of Grambling Lab to sign a scholarship and attend LSU, where he played for coach John Brady. He was the Class 1A Player of the Year and the Monroe News-Star’s All-Northeast Louisiana team after averaging 9.2 rebounds and 6.5 assists.
He selected the Tigers over Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Louisiana Tech, and Grambling State.
LSU won 62% of its games (78-47) and made four trips to the postseason that included three straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament. He scored 1,269 points – an average of 10.2 points – during his career and had a career-high average of 13.1 points as a senior.
Hudson’s journey became a full circle when he returned to his alma mater to coach in 2014. A pair of losses in the state regionals were a precursor to a trip to the state tournament, a 70-60 defeat to Tensas in the semifinals.
By that time, Grambling Lab was known as Lincoln Prep, and the Panthers advanced to the state regionals and quarterfinals until losing to North Central in the Class 1A title game, 81-65.
“I’m my own toughest critic as a coach,” Hudson said. “When I started, I tried to overcoach. I was trying to coach 12 players that played in the SEC. Then I started to allow too much. I tried to get out of the way too much. The last seven or eight years, we’ve found a balance of coaching what we have.”
Hudson recalled the future of Lincoln Prep being threatened when an emergency meeting was called by the president of Grambling State University.
Grambling Lab, which had been constructed on GSU’s campus in 1953, underwent a major restructuring to comply with federal desegregation orders from the Louisiana Department of Education in October 2013.
Alma J. Brown Elementary, Grambling Middle Magnet, and Grambling High all merged under one charter system to form Lincoln Prep. To obey requirements of the desegregation decree, Lincoln Prep had to detach itself from Grambling State and no longer had access to its athletic facilities.
“We would bus kids to a church up 167 toward Dubach,” Hudson said. “We had kids that went to school at New Living Word. We still had to have sports, and we were still competitive in basketball without our own home gym. We didn’t have a home game for two years. We had some games at New Living Word.”
The Panthers even moved some of their playoff games to Scotty Robertson Memorial gym on the campus of Louisiana Tech.
In order to conduct classes, Lincoln Prep rented space at a movie theater, rented space at New Living Word, and also partnered with other churches for classroom space.
That set into motion an almost three-year challenge for Lincoln Prep to remain viable in academics and athletics. Portal buildings became part of the school’s landscape while they tried to work their way from under the desegregation lawsuit that was first filed in 1966.
Through the vision of such people as Gordan Ford, executive director of Lincoln Prep, the school remains a beacon of hope and is rooted for future success.
State revenue bonds funded $30 million for a new building that sits as the centerpiece of the campus on Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. Another $15 million was earmarked for athletic facilities, including an artificial turf football field and fieldhouse, a 930-seat gymnasium, and baseball and softball fields.
“We have better facilities than we ever had,” Hudson said of the school, which was opened March 11, 2023. “We’re headed in the right direction.”
Moreover, Lincoln Prep had been able to breathe a little deeper when the school learned it was no longer the target of the desegregation lawsuit that had been dismissed in 2023 and had the freedom to return to GSU’s campus.
“They almost closed us, and then they almost closed us again,” Hudson said in his postgame news conference. “We were having school in churches and had school in portable buildings. We had practice wherever we could find.”
The five-point semifinal loss to Southern Lab last March served as a constant reminder that helped to drive this year’s team.
With two key returning seniors in Spann, a first-team Class All-State choice last season, and Hicks, Lincoln Prep won 14 of its first 17 games.
The team’s losses were Ferriday, Green Oaks, and Madison – three teams that all advanced to the state tournament, with Ferriday winning the Division IV non-select state championship.
“We don’t mind playing up and playing competition,” said Hudson, who gave a nod to athletic director Johnny Simmons for helping to put together the schedule. “We don’t mind going on the road to play. We feel we put in enough work that our game will travel, especially with the style that we play.
“That helps to make you a good team,” Hudson said. “You’re pushed throughout the season, where in the playoffs, you’re used to it. We were blessed to have all home games in the playoffs. We were able to get it done.”
Hudson commended his team for its work on the defensive end of the floor. Instead of utilizing a heavy dose of full-court pressure, his team’s calling card in the past, the Panthers made their mark this season with stingy half-court defense to try and take opponents out of what they preferred doing.
“They bought into playing defense in the halfcourt,” he said. “That’s what made us better. In years past, I would try to force the issue of press, press, and press, and we would struggle instead of just embracing what we were really good at. I learned those things from coach Lyons, and we had one of our best defensive teams.”
Following the team’s four-point defeat at Madison, Lincoln Prep didn’t lose again.
The Panthers won their last 11 games of the regular season and finished the season on a 16-game winning streak that culminated with the state championship.
An average margin of 19 points per victory was an indication of Lincoln Prep’s dominance, although three of the Panthers’ wins were by a total of 10 points.
The team’s fifth straight trip to the state tournament featured a competitive semifinal that Lincoln Prep led 42-34 after three quarters against Central Catholic.
Levingston established his candidacy for the Division IV MVP with a team-high 35 points on 12 of 18 shooting from the field and 11 of 14 marksmanship at the free throw line. He added eight rebounds and three steals, helping the Panthers outscore Central Catholic, 16-8, in the final quarter.
“He performed big-time for us all year,” Hudson said. “His game has expanded since his freshman year. He shoots the mid-range jumper really well. We actually ran him into the post and in transition. He’s definitely exceptional. I know that it’s in him. He comes from a bloodline of basketball players with his father and grandfather.”
Lincoln Prep scored the first four points of the championship game and never trailed.
Spann sparked a 7-0 run with consecutive baskets, and Levingston hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 17-8 edge. When Spann began the second quarter with another 3-pointer, Southern Lab called a timeout, trailing 20-8.
Lincoln Prep’s lead fluctuated between 14 (27-13) and eight points (32-24) when Southern Lab enjoyed a 6-0 stretch before Hicks’ free throws with 4.4 seconds.
“The third quarter’s been our Achilles heel all year,” Hudson said. “We come and try to get five stops and score on three of the five, and whoever is forced to call the first timeout has the upper hand. In the playoffs, we’ve struggled. That day, there was something different about the attention to detail that we had. The focus in the locker room with the adjustments we were making, and the focus we had when we came out when we were warming up, everything just kind of fell into place.”
Spann and Levingston fueled their team’s surge out of the locker room – a 12-3 run – that forced Southern Lab, which shot 31%, to take another timeout after Spann’s basket with 2:53 to go in the quarter.
Lincoln Prep, which shot nearly 70% for the game, didn’t let its foot off the gas. The trio of Hicks, Spann, and Levingston garnered the majority of the team’s 19 points in the quarter when Spann found Xzaviour Combs on an alley-oop that was the icing on the championship cake.
“That’s probably the first time that’s happened all year,” Hudson said of his team’s shooting percentage. “Defense is what made us go.”
Levingston, who was 10 of 12 from the free throw line, added three rebounds and two steals, while Hicks had a team-high nine rebounds and was a perfect 4 of 4 from the floor. Spann chipped in with six rebounds and three assists.
Hudson shared his feelings with the media during his postgame address, which became more of a testament to the resolve of everyone associated with Lincoln Prep’s survival and potential for great things in the future.
“We were having classes in portal buildings to make the school,” he said. “It’s part of the struggle. It is what it is. That’s what makes this championship so much better. It’s about those kids that trusted the program, that trusted the process, even when it looked like there was nothing to be trusted.
“It’s not just our championship. It’s the ones that came before us, the ones that went through the struggle,” he said. “I talked to Mr. Ford the other night. He said our championships are combined with Grambling Lab. Lincoln Prep is a continuation of that school. When it says (all-time state championships) Grambling Lab 7 and Lincoln Prep 1, it should be 8.”