With one opportunity left before Christmas, No. 10 Lincoln Christian was in need of a win heading into the break.

And not only is that what the Bulldogs got, but they put together an impressive showing on Saturday afternoon in a 76-33 win over Nathan Hale at the Memorial Veterans Classic.

Lincoln (4-5) jumped out to a big early lead and rolled, hitting 12 threes as a team, snapping a four game losing streak with Saturday's win.

"We really needed that win going into Christmas break," head coach Jonathan Hopkins said. "Losing is infectious. It gets harder and harder to win with each loss. We still have a lot to improve upon, but we will have plenty of opportunities with our practices over Christmas break."

It was a coming out party for the offense, who put up a season high in points, as well as for the defense, which made things tough on Hale throughout the day.

"I'm just glad the guys were able to see some positive results after hitting the reset button," Hopkins said. "We shared the ball really well and played team defense again. We looked like a team again. We just have to keep building upon each win and remember it's a long season! We want to be playing our best at the end of the season."

It was the first game after the aforementioned reset that Hopkins initiated on Wednesday, as he hoped to start fresh and return to the things that they were doing well in the first four games of 2025. 

"After going 0-3 at the Sequoyah Invitational and last Tuesday's game at Rejoice, we started Wednesday's practice with a team meeting where I said we were hitting the reset button on the season," said Hopkins. "We've had multiple starters out during that 0-4 stretch, but more than that, we got away from the things that helped us start 3-1."

That reset resulted in a good week of practice, followed by the performance they were looking for on Saturday.

"So after hitting the reset button on Wednesday, we had three really good practices where we focused on our ball control, ball movement and spacing," Hopkins said. "On Saturday vs. Nathan Hale, we played like we practiced. I really feel like we started to put somethings together that we didn't in the previous four games."

The Bulldogs have been without senior leader Chandler Cozbey for most of the losing stretch. 

Cozbey has been excellent, leading the team in scoring at 15 points per game, as well as chipping in three rebounds, three assists and over two steals per contest. He is also shooting 52% from the floor, 42% from three and 73% from the four line.

"One of the reasons why we struggled in our 0-4 stretch was the fact that we lost Chandler Cozbey for three of those games due to a concussion," Hopkins said. So we had to move Chase Jobe over to the point, which is a position that he's never played before."

Jobe, another one of the senior leaders, has been outstanding for Hopkins, as the only other Bulldog to average double figures in scoring.

Jobe led all scorers on Saturday afternoon, as he finished with 18 points and impacted the game at all levels — both on offense and on defense.

"As crazy as it sounds, Chase is going to be a better player for us the rest of the season after having to see the game from the top of the key rather than the wings," Hopkins said. "It's a totally different perspective to the floor. He really got better from game to game, and Saturday, he was a true floor leader. Similar to a quarterback, he started to recognize when to distribute and when to call his own number."

Another Lincoln starter that has stepped up is sophomore Aiden Hendren, who leads the team in rebounding.

The 6-foot-2 forward was outstanding in Saturday's win over Hale, as he scored 16 points and hit double figures in rebounding, while also ripping four threes from long range — all in the first half.

"Aiden is another guy who really stepped up and improved his game during Chandler's absence," Hopkins said. "With Chase moving to the point, it moved Aiden to the wing, and he really responded. I believe he had four threes in the first half yesterday and at least 10 rebounds by halftime. He has been a very pleasant surprise to the start of our season, and he keeps getting better each game."

Senior Luke Campbell was also big for Lincoln on Saturday, as he finished with 10 points in a big second half that pushed the Lincoln lead out even further.

"It was great to see Luke Campbell have double digits off the bench," Hopkins said. "He's a guy that doesn't get enough credit for all the things he does for this team. His attitude and effort never waiver, even when he doesn't get a lot of playing time. He's been a steady leader for us all preseason and early this season. I was really happy for him.

Campbell's focus, execution and leadership in the second half helped Lincoln continue the strong play and build momentum heading into Christmas.

"Sometimes there is a drop in games like this if players let up as the game goes along," said Hopkins. "Luke made sure that didn't happen in the second half. He's showed his leadership by maintaining our focus on what we wanted to accomplish going into Christmas break."

Ultimately, the team accomplished exactly what they wanted to before heading into Christmas break, as the reset and the immediate success vs. Hale should give the group a lot of confidence heading into the second half of the season.

"I'm just glad the guys were able to see some positive results after hitting the reset button," Hopkins said. "We shared the ball really well and played team defense again. We looked like a team again. We just have to keep building upon each win and remember it's a long season! We want to be playing our best at the end of the season."

Photos by Lee Talley