A preview of 4A final?
Lincoln Park escapes Laurel Highlands with Capel at game
Lincoln Park boys basketball coach Mike Bariski didn’t know what to expect when his team took the floor of the Beaver County Dome on Thursday against Laurel Highlands.
“When they told me 4 o’clock, I said, are you kidding me? 4 o’clock? Nobody’s gonna be there,” Barski said. “I’m not a bettor, so I’m glad I didn’t bet on that. What a crowd.”
Everything was there for the fans.
It was a matchup of the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in Class 4A in what could be a preview of the WPIAL final at the Petersen Events Center. Both teams have Division I prospects and even Pitt coach Jeff Capel, who extended offers to two Lincoln Park players, was on hand to watch. And what a game they witnessed.
Laurel Highlands guard Rodney Gallagher scored a game-high 35 points and Keondre DeShields danced around foul trouble for 19. But in the end, it was Lincoln Park, behind 23 from Brandin Cummings and 20 by Meleek Thomas — the two Pitt offers — that pulled away late as the No. 1 Leopards (6-0) escaped with a thrilling 70-66 win against the No. 2 Mustangs (6-1).
“Games like these is what you live for. You love having a big environment like this and going out there and putting on a show for the crowd,” Cummings said. “But this game had a deeper meaning to it. This was the top two teams in 4A and the winner was going to have an advantage the next time we play those guys.”
There is no doubt both teams wanted to lay the groundwork for a potential meeting the first weekend in March.
And both showed they have some things to work on before a potential rematch will take place.
Lincoln Park came out of the gate with an uncharacteristic eight turnovers in the first quarter before they settled in and committed just six the rest of the way. For Laurel Highlands, the team was a two-man show with DeShields and Gallagher accounting for 54 of the team’s 66 points and little support from the other three starters and no bench scoring.
“There’s a couple of really good shooters in there. They just have to get confidence,” Laurel Highlands coach Rick Hauger said. “I think Rodney and Keondre are trying to help them get that confidence, but this was basically their seventh game and this was all the varsity experience they have.”
For a while, though, it looked like just having Gallagher would be enough to get Laurel Highlands the win.
Trailing 42-34 with six minutes remaining in the third quarter, DeShields went to the bench after picking up his fourth personal foul. For the rest of the quarter, Gallagher ran amok, as he single-handedly propelled the Mustangs attack and erased the deficit.
He scored 16 consecutive points for Laurel Highlands as he slashed through the Lincoln Park defense at will and got the team back to within two, 51-49, with 1:54 remaining in the quarter.
Blaise Krizner then hit a 3-pointer 52 seconds later to give the Mustangs their only second-half lead, 52-51. But Cummings hit a pair from the stripe with 3.2 seconds left in the third quarter to put Lincoln Park ahead to stay.
“Gallagher is unbelievable,” Barski said. “I didn’t know. But he scored at will. But we stopped him when we needed to.”
Lincoln Park also got solid scoring from players other than Cummings and Thomas. Dorian McGhee came off the bench to score six of his 11 points in the fourth quarter and Dontay Green finished with four points and four boards in his first action after suffering an ankle injury that required surgery during football season.
“We have guys who have the ability to get 20 a night,” Barski said. “These guys aren’t afraid to shoot the ball. I’ll tell you that right now.”