But the night's scoring honors would go to Ralston's teammate, Chase Overstreet. The senior forward scored a game-high 19 points for the Patriots in the win on 9-for-10 shooting, including an eight-point effort in the blowout second quarter.
"He got some good passes, got a steal or two, got a couple putbacks on rebounds. He played hard and did a nice job," said Jackson. "He does a great job for us and he had a big night tonight."
Overstreet had his only miss of the game in the second quarter, a quarter that saw few Lincoln mistakes. After hitting 50 percent of their first quarter shots, Lincoln came out to connect on 63 percent in the second, 10-for-16, and the Patriots had no turnovers. On the defensive end, Lincoln crashed the boards and forced several turnovers, giving Danville little opportunity to score. Danville made good on just 2 of 10 shot attempts in the second and turned the ball over seven times.
The first turnover came on the opening possession when a Danville player touched the ball as it went out of bounds. Noah Keeton turned the Danville miscue into three points, coming down to nail a trey on the opposite end to start the 26-5 scoring surge.
Overstreet followed with four points on back-to-back buckets in the paint then added goals off assists from Ryan Young and Trent Calhoun. Ralston would connect for a basket before Calhoun broke off a steal and took it coast-to-coast for the slam dunk.
"Trent got us going with a steal or two and then that dunk. We really just started playing well in the second quarter," Jackson said.
Young scored a bucket and add a free throw before dishing to Derek Todd inside for two points late in the period. Miller put in a quick four before the break with a basket off a Trevor Edgington feed and two free throws for a 45-17 Lincoln cushion.
Kruz Warner, who led Danville with eight points, and Duran Elmore scored the only two Admiral field goals in the second quarter. Josh Milburn, a former Patriot, added a free throw toss.
"We played really well in the second quarter on both ends," said Jackson. "We were patient offensively when the break wasn't there. We moved the ball well and we shared the ball."
"We also defended real well," he said. "And, when we defend well, we're solid."
Danville would improve on its scoring in the third quarter, scoring 14 points, the Admirals high-point effort for the game, but Lincoln's defense was still limiting the Admiral looks and the Patriot offense would not be silenced.
Lincoln had 23 points in the third to open up a 68-31 lead.
"They're not as strong as they have been," said Jackson of the Admirals. "They're playing real hard for Coach (Craig) Pippen. I think he's got them playing hard. He knows that they're a young basketball team."
"When you've got a young team what you try to do is get an effort from them," he said. "They played hard, they worked hard and that's all you can ask for."
Overstreet, who also grabbed eight rebounds for Lincoln, was good for another 10 points in the third quarter before Jackson pulled his starters and second string for the night. Keeton drained two three-point shots and Calhoun hit one trey before making their exits.
Fourteen Patriots would see action in the district game with 10 players getting into the scoring.
"We had a lot of balance tonight," said Jackson. "I thought a lot of kids played well. A lot of kids played and a lot of kids scored. We did a lot of good things tonight."
"It was a good win."
Lincoln (11-5, 2-0 district) shot 52.4 percent for the game, connecting on 32 of 61 field goal attempts, 6-for-21 from three. At the line, the Pats were 7-for-11.
Danville (2-9, 0-3 district) took 30 less shots than Lincoln and finished at 39 percent on 12-for-31 shooting, 1-for-7 from three. The Ads were 11-for-22 at the foul line.
Lincoln finished with just nine turnovers to Danville's 24.
Jackson commended Miller for a strong effort on the glass in Lincoln's 30-16 rebounding win. Miller led the Pats with eight boards.
