Matt LYNCH, 2005
LYNCH, HATTON, BROWN
Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 12/3/2012 at 17:02:23
Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, February 17, 2005Matt Lynch piling up GU basketball honors
by Alan Smith
As Matt LYNCH'S career as a Graceland University Yellowjacket men's basketball player winds down, the awards are piling up.
LYNCH, a Mount Ayr Community high school graduate, has been playing with the Yellowjacket varsity for four years -- nine games as a freshman and then the season as a sophomore, junior and senior.
As the season winds down, the awards have piled up for the psychology, history and criminal justice major.
Here are just a few of the milestones LYNCH has picked up so far this season:
NAIA Division II national player of the week honors.
three time Heart of America Conference player of the week this season.
scoring his 1,000th career point as a Yellowjacket.
setting the school record for steals in a game and a career.
And LYNCH has been scoring up a storm as the Yellowjackets get to the end of their season this year -- helping the Yellowjackets to upsets over nationally ranked powers in the conference.
In successive weeks, the Yellowjackets have knocked off 17th ranked Mid-America Nazarene University and second ranked William Jewell College, with LYNCH breaking the 30-point barrier in each game.
What a season it has been for the 5' 9" guard who uses his cat-like quickness, outstanding leaping ability and shooting range from all over the court to wreak havoc on oppenent defenses. Then there is his knack for slight of hand that seems to read an opposing guard's mind on where the next dribble will go in time for him to knock the ball away and streak down the floor for a lay up or a dunk.
The late season surge by the Yellowjackets has moved them into a tie for fourth in the conference as they have picked up wins over three of the top five teams in the conference in the past few weeks.
Area fans have one more chance to see LYNCH and his teammates take on a top team in the conference when Evangel University comes to Lamoni Saturday at 8 p.m. The Graceland squad is currently tied with Evangel for fourth in the conference and a win could give the Yellowjackets that spot by themselves.
A number of areas fans saw LYNCH and the Yellowjackets knock off William Jewell in that exciting game last Saturday.
For the season, LYNCH is leading the team, averaging 20.9 points per game, making more than 46 percent of ths two-point field goals, 33 percent of his three-point shots and 74 percent of his foul shots. In addition, he's averaging 4.9 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 3.9 steals a game.
As good as those numbers are, his performance in a number of games recently has looked even better. In the last four games, LYNCH has averaged 31 points or better as the Jackets have knocked off some of the top teams in the conference and played close with everyone else.
LYNCH opened the season by surpassing the 1,000 point mark as a Yellowjacket in the game against Missouri Valley College on December 10.
His career total reached 1,008 with the 19 points he scored in that game and he has rolled along since. Through the William Jewell game that number as risen to 1,367 career points.
For the season so far, he has seven games where he has surpassed the 30-point mark.
Three times this season LYNCH has been named the Heart of America conference's player of the week -- an honor give to the top individual effort by a player in the conference that includes school in Missouri, Kansas and Iowa.
He surely must be in line for the award again afer his 31-point effort in upsetting William Jewell College, which came into the game at Graceland Saturday, Feb. 12, ranked second in the nation in NAIA Division II.
Just how much of a turnaround this game was comes from comparing it to the game the Yellowjackets played at Liberty, MO against William Jewell earlier in the season. In that game, the Yellowjackets lost 102-65.
The highest honor of the season so far came on February 8 when LYNCH was named the NAIA Divsion II men's basketball player of the week for the week ending February 6.
That award came after the upset victory over #17 ranked Mid-America Nazarene Univeristy where he had 32 points and tied the school's single-game record for steals with 12.
On February 10, LYNCH made his 246th career steal to become Graceland's all-time steals leader. He surpassed the record of Brett BROWN, who had 245 steals in his career.
Through the William Jewell College game, LYNCH had 102 steals this year to go with the 66 he made as a junior, 73 as a sophomore and 10 as a freshman. This makes a total of 251 with several more games to play.
LYNCH is the son of Keith and Tonya LYNCH and Larry and Debbie HATTON, all of Utah. The LYNCHES lived in Mount Ayr when Matt was in high school, where he was a first team all-conference player and Omaha World-Herald player of the year during his high school career.
Last season LYNCH was named third team all-conference, and led the team in points, steals and assists. He was named the team's most valuable player and led the team in free throw percentages.
Many more post-season honors will probably be on the way this year as well.
But first things first. First there is the rest of the regular season, then it's on to the Heart of America conference post-season tournament to see just how far the team can go.
Photograph courtesy of Mount Ayr Record-News
Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2012
Ringgold Biographies maintained by Tony Mercer.
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