Central Catholic’s Lincoln Parked as Gateway Slams Second Straight Boys AAAA Title

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, March 3, 2012 | 11:04 PM

Pittsburgh Central Catholic drove a big fancy Lincoln through the first three rounds of the district basketball playoffs all the way to the Bluff and Duquesne University. However Gateway turned that speedster into a vehicle that could not get out of first gear. The Gators shut down the Vikings 49-39 Saturday night at the Palumbo Center to capture a second straight WPIAL Boys AAAA championship.

Vikings star Lincoln Davis, who averaged over 20 points per game during the regular season and was a big key to Central rising from the 12th seed to the title game, but the Gators put the clamps down on him. Davis ended up with only eight points on 2 of 10 shooting from the field, 4 of 8 shooting from the line and eight points before fouling out with 36 seconds left in the game. Davis didn’t hit his first shot from the field until 3:53 was left in the FOURTH quarter. By then, the Vikings were down by double digits with little hope for a major comeback.

There was promise of finally having a tight boys title game this weekend in the first quarter when there were two ties and the quarter ended with Gateway leading Central Catholic 12-11.

But the Gators took control in the second quarter, scoring the first seven points of the stanza as Gateway outscored Central Catholic 16-3 to take a 28-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Mitch Adams’ team took further suspense out of the game when they opened the third quarter by scoring the first seven points again, building what would be their biggest lead of the game up to 21 points at 35-14.

While the Vikings tried to make a run in the final quarter, they continued to struggle as a team beyond the arch and from the field in general as the Vikings ended up shooting just under 30% from the field for the game. The closest Central Catholic would get the rest of the game would be eight points at 43-35 with 78 seconds left.

Gateway was led by seniors Barnett Harris (14) and Tyler Scott (13), who combined for 27 points with a couple of highlight real slams for flash. Tom Kromka added 10 points for the Gators who improve to 20-6 and become only the second team in Boys AAAA history to repeat as basketball champions following in the footsteps o f the 1997, 1998 and 1999 New Castle Red Hurricane. Gateway will open the state playoffs on Saturday against Tuesday’s Seneca Valley/Mifflin County Prelim Tuesday winner.

Central Catholic did not have a player in double figure scoring as they were led by Claude Scott’s 9 points. The Vikings, searching for their second district title, fall to 15-11 and will face State College on Saturday in the PIAA postseason opener.
Score By Quarter:
Gateway : 12 – 16 – 13 – 8 = 49
Pittsburgh Central Catholic : 11 – 3 – 8 – 17 = 39

Tags: Gateway