Workmanlike
North Catholic efficient at both ends of the floor in upset victory
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lincoln Park’s Nelly Cummings moved past one great shooter on the WPIAL’s all-time scoring list and moved closer to another. But for shooting, the night belonged to Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic.
And so did another WPIAL title.
North Catholic put on an impressive display of offensive efficiency, gave Lincoln Park fits with its matchup zone defense and strolled to the Class 3A championship with a 56-51 victory against Lincoln Park at Petersen Events Center.
North Catholic won the 1A title a year ago, jumped up two classifications this year and gave coach Dave Long his fourth WPIAL title since 2009.
“That first one was special,” said Long. “But this one really is unbelievable, too.”
North Catholic’s motion offense was terrific, reversing the ball quickly from side to side and constantly finding open shots, whether in close or from 3-point range. The Trojans shot 57 percent (22 of 37) from the field and 64 percent (7 of 11) from 3-point range.
John Fukon, a 6-foot junior forward, made 7 of 8 shots and scored 16 points for North Catholic (21-5). Zach Offi, a senior forward, added 15, making 6 of 8 shots and three 3-pointers. Sophomore point guard Isaiah Wilson added 11.
“That’s kind of been the way we’ve played all year,” said Long, whose team was the No. 3 seed.
“We don’t like to fly the ball out or trigger the 3’s left or right. The ones we do take are measured and that’s our style. That’s what we enjoy.”
But North Catholic’s defense was also key. Lincoln Park (21-5) was the No. 1 seed and featured Cummings, a 6-foot guard and Bowling Green recruit who came in averaging 29 points and tied for 13th on the WPIAL scoring list with 2,252 career points. Cummings moved past former Blackhawk star Dante Calabria and close to Highlands’ Micah Mason, but Cummings made only 4 of 23 shots from the field. He was 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
“We just tried to shade Nelly on defense the whole time and try to slow him down,” said Fukon.
Long said: “That’s [assistant coach] Frank Halloran’s defense. We’ve used it all year and we’ve done it to a lot of pretty good scorers this year.”
Indeed. North Catholic came in giving up only 43 points a game. The defense was big down the stretch. Lincoln Park had only two leads in the game and fell behind by 11 points in the third quarter at 41-30. North Catholic made 6 of its first 7 shots in the third quarter, but Lincoln Park crept back and cut the deficit to 51-49 on a Keeno Holmes 3-pointer with 2:40 left.
But Offi answered with a 3pointer to put the Trojans ahead again by five, 54-49. Cummings made two free throws with 1:28 left to make it 54-51. After the teams traded turnovers, Wilson missed a free throw with 42 seconds remaining. Lincoln Park’s Evan Brown missed a long 3pointer with 27 seconds left before Wilson made two free throws to clinch it.
“This is surreal,” said Wilson. “It felt even better being the underdog this year because it was all about Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park, Lincoln Park.”
Kenny Fukon, John’s brother, added seven points.
“This feels a lot different this year,” said Kenny Fukon. “We did it without a lot of size and it’s special for me playing with my brother.”
Both teams will be in the PIAA playoffs next weekend.