Lincoln basketball's 2020 All-State All-Star

The 2020 Class C basketball "All State" recognition is not a new award for Lincoln High School senior, Nathan Brown. When only a sophomore, Brown achieved that lofty selection after the Lincoln Lynx team finished in second place at the 2018 District Tournament in Hamilton.

Finishing up a five-year varsity career on the round ball court, Lincoln's top hoopster racked up 1721 career points and is still seeing awards for excellence roll in.

"I'd say being chosen for the Montana All-Star team means the most to me," Brown said quietly.

The All-Star players, 20 of the most talented seniors from Class AA through C schools - ten from the Western Division and ten from the East - were slated to play in Billings from March 19-21, but the tournament was canceled March 13, due to concerns about the spread of coronavirus.

Lincoln varsity coach Shane Brown, Nathan's dad, said he's not sure when, or if, the tournament will be re-scheduled.

"(Nathan's) a little frustrated. He had Pete Sitch to fall back on, but now that's cancelled. He's chomping at the bit to do something. He's hoping something gets re-scheduled so he can get back on the court," Coach Brown said

"1st Team, All Conference" is another award that came to Brown this month, a recognition that comes from the votes of all the conference coaches. Since it took two and sometimes three of their players to contain the Lincoln shooting phenom, they knew, better than anyone, how talented a player Nathan Brown is.

In his freshman year, Brown was chosen to participate in the Montana All-Star "Down Under" basketball tournament in Australia, a team made up of all-class All Stars.

"I was so appreciative of the financial support from our community that allowed me to go to Australia to play basketball," said Brown of this opportunity. "Lincoln has always been so encouraging to me. I just want to say 'Thank you.'

The end of the winter basketball season is bittersweet for Coach Brown. "When Nate was just a youngster, he would always want to be in the gym with me while I was coaching the high school boys. I appreciate all these years we've had together. Basketball has been a special experience for both of us."

It may be a few years until Coach Brown has a player who averages 47 percent shooting from the floor and 80 percent from the free throw line. One of Nathan's strongest skills was his ferocious dribbling.

"He could break a press just by bombing through it, and he had an intuitive basketball IQ sense" said Coach Brown. "Sometimes I held him to higher expectations than the other players, but he was always motivated to work harder and get better."

Nathan's family has been consistently in the background, baking cookies to pay for summer sports camps in Canada, North Carolina, Michigan, Utah and many other venues.

"I'm proud of him, his heart, mind, integrity and hard work. If he makes up his mind to do something, he tries to be the best and gives 100 percent," said Teresa Brown, Nathan's mom.

Success doesn't always show up on Easy Street. When the Brown family suffered a catastrophic fire at their Dalton Mountain home the week before Christmas in 2019, Nathan's world was suddenly turned upside down.

"We lost clothes, everything, it was really hard," said Nathan. "Being on the court took my mind off the tragedy, but when the game was over, I had to still deal with the emotional upset."

Coach Brown was injured fighting the fire and had to miss two of the games due to his injuries.

When asked what he learned this year, Nathan said, "Patience. Patience in school, sports and my personal life."

The family has been learning patience, too, as they are still in their rental house 16 months after the fire, working with contractors, insurance companies and banks. The road to success sometimes travels through miles of trials and disappointments.

Small schools like Lincoln sometimes have trouble recruiting players. The 2020 Lynx team had one freshman, no sophomores, three eighth graders and two seniors.

"Nathan's leadership has proven to be very helpful to the younger players and the team's confidence grew after each game," Coach Brown said.

Nathan had 53 assists in the season stat book, a figure that showed his leadership skills to encourage the o`ther team members.

Looking back on his basketball career, Nathan said, "It's been a memorable adventure. To the younger players coming up, I want to say 'Good Luck'. If you want to succeed, you can - if you work for it."

The basketball fans of Lincoln might want to thank Brown for years of exciting basketball action that helped chase away the winter blues as they watched his exploits on the court.