Lincoln Park survives early ‘haymaker’

Cummings, Thomas combine for 56 points against Uniontown

The kings of Class 4A basketball in Pennsylvania didn’t need a standing eight count, but Lincoln Park’s legs were wobbly.

In Tuesday night’s PIAA second-round game, Uniontown jumped to a 15-point lead six minutes into the game.

“I called a timeout and I told our guys that I think [Uniontown] just threw a haymaker at us, but we’re still standing,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski.

Lincoln Park had a counter punch. Make that a one-two punch.

For the umpteenth time in the past two seasons, Lincoln Park standout guards Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas had big games and this one KO’ed Uniontown out of a tournament for the third time in the past two seasons. Cummings and Thomas brought defending state champ Lincoln Park back for a 66-62 victory against Uniontown in front of a loud capacity crowd at Canon-McMillan High School.

Cummings and Thomas combined for 56 of Lincoln Park’s points. This is the second consecutive year they are both averaging more than 20 a game.

“There’s a reason they’re big-time players. They just make big-time shots,” said Uniontown coach Rob Kezmarsky, whose team lost to Lincoln Park in last year’s state semifinals and this year’s WPIAL semifinals.

Thomas, ranked among the top juniors in the country, kept Lincoln Park (25-3) in the game in the first quarter and went on to finish with 24 points. Then Cummings, a senior and a Pitt recruit, was splendid in the second and third quarters. Cummings scored 12 points in each of the middle two quarters and finished with a game-high 32. He was 0 for 6 in the first quarter and 12 for 18 in the final three, including 5 of 7 from 3-point range.

Cummings made a variety of shots — 3-pointers off passes, off balance 3-pointers with a leg kicking out and nifty drives to the basket. He now has 2,135 career points.

“I know when he’s hot,” Thomas said. “When he made the first two 3s in the third, I said to myself, ‘He’s hoopin’ now and nobody on this court can stop him right now.’ So we just kept going through him and it worked.”

Cummings banked in a 3pointer just before the firsthalf buzzer to bring Lincoln Park (25-3) within 32-31 at halftime. That was pretty good after Lincoln Park made only 4-of-18 shots in the first quarter while Uniontown (23-5) made 10 of 14.

“I think it was just a simple case of us not making shots at first and not playing together,” Thomas said.

Cummings said, “The most important thing is not to give up. … I think in the third quarter everybody realized, ‘OK, this guy’s on now. He’s hoopin and let’s do whatever we can to find the hot hand.’ Plays were drawn up for me and obviously I was making the shots I got.”

Cummings scored Lincoln Park’s first seven points of the third quarter and his 3-pointer gave Lincoln Park a 36-34 advantage. After that, the lead changed hands six times in the third quarter and the teams were deadlocked at 47 heading into the final quarter.

Uniontown made only 4 of 16 shots in the fourth quarter. Cummings’ 3pointer with 5:27 left put Lincoln Park in front, 52-48, and his three-point play with 2:25 left gave the Leopards a 57-52 advantage. Thomas then scored off a rebound to give Lincoln Park

a 59- 52 advantage and Uniontown couldn’t recover. Uniontown had four players in double figures, led by senior forward

K’Adrian McLee’s 13 points.

“I think our defense was good after the first quarter,” Bariski said. “We changed and switched all screens after the beginning and * I think our zone hurt them some, too.”

Not as much as Cummings and Thomas.