Bridgeport boys basketball coach Dave Marshall felt the Indians' Wednesday matinee at Lincoln had at least somewhat of a state tournament feel to it.

The Tribe were rather workmanlike for much of the matchup, and never trailed in a 50-35 victory that was played in the afternoon before much of the student body at LHS, .

"It was a fun environment for both schools and both communities to get to do something like this," Marshall said. "I've been coaching 35 years and never got to do that, so it was cool for me, too. I told the guys in the last couple practices that this creates kind of a tournament-feel atmosphere that you can't create totally, but it's easy to get too jacked up and get your mind off base. That happened to us at times tonight but I'm proud of the way the guys got through it."

Bridgeport guard Anderson McDougal scored the game's first four points and teammates Aryon Dodd and Daniel Riley combined for the team's remaining 12 points over the first quarter, including seven from Dodd, who threw down a transition dunk and made a three-pointer to leave the Cougars (3-5) facing a 16-8 deficit entering the second period.

Lincoln's Cole Vincent accounted for the first six points of the second, including a trey that pulled the home team to within two 4:55 before the break.

But starting with McDougal's conventional three-point play 17 seconds later, Bridgeport (7-2) outscored LHS 12-4 over what remained of the opening half, and got a Jake Holcomb triple to turn a seven-point advantage into a 28-18 halftime lead.

Dodd led all players with 10 points through two frames, while BHS was rather efficient in making 11-of-23 field-goal attempts to that point.

"The challenge for us as coaches is to get them to not lose that aggressiveness, but channel it into what we're doing," Marshall said. "He is definitely learning that, but for the most part, it's getting him to be a little bit more aggressive and he's starting to do that. Now we may have to go back a little in the other direction, but that's the beauty of putting a team together. He has a really good package. He wasn't very long two years ago. He's grown maybe 6 inches, so he's a whole different player. He could always shoot, but now he's a little bit better off the bounce and he's making himself a better defender, which is essential to not just us, but his future. He's really coming along."

The Indians ran off the first eight points of the second half, including Dodd's conventional three-point play that allowed the visitors to double up Lincoln and lead 36-18.

But the Cougars didn't give in, and starting with a short jump shot from Brody Barnes, Lincoln outscored BHS 8-0 to end the third, getting a Braiden Minor triple to trail 38-28 entering the fourth. It was one of only two Cougar triples.

"We have to make some threes. If somebody would've told me it would be a 10-point game and we'd only have made two threes up to that point, I probably would've said you're crazy," LHS head coach Jordan Toth said. "Give credit to them. They scouted us pretty well and ran us off the line a little bit. We'll still a work in progress and we need to continue to round possessions out and be patient. I think we'll shoot a lot more threes if we get to the rim more. We didn't do a very good job of getting to the rim today."

LHS had several opportunities to make it a single-digit margin early into the fourth, but failed to score on each occasion.

Instead, McDougal made the most of a third-chance opportunity for the first basket of the final period, and when Dodd scored from close range on a baseline drive, the advantage was 13.

It grew to 45-31 when Gavin Williams scored in the paint, and after the Cougars pulled to within 10 when Minor made 2-of-3 free throws with 3:09 left, they never scored again.

Dodd led Bridgeport with 16 points and McDougal scored 15 to go with game-high totals of 10 rebounds and five assists. That duo was responsible for 12 of the team's 19 field goals.

The Indians had only eight turnovers to Lincoln's 15, which was key in allowing the visitors to attempt 11 more shots (48-37).

"Enjoy the environment and try to learn from it, but I think it's as close as you can come during the regular season of simulating a tournament-type atmosphere," Marshall said. "I hope that pays dividends. We won't know for a couple months, but we'll see."

Vincent led all players with 18 points and was the only Cougar in double figures.

Toth credited Barnes for helping orchestrate the idea of a midweek afternoon home game.

"They have an athletic committee at school that meets once a month to talk about some stuff," Toth said. "It came up in that committee and we had to get approval from the county. They asked me about it and I thought it was a great idea. It was a great atmosphere. A good game. We're fighting some illnesses right now. I hadn't seen a couple guys all week. All in all, give credit to Bridgeport. They made plays down the stretch to ultimately seal the deal, but we did a lot of good things as well."