Freshman’s triple-double helps Imani Christian deal 1st loss to Leechburg

By: George Guido
Tuesday, January 4, 2022 | 9:36 PM

Imani Christian was down to seven players in uniform Tuesday night because of an injury and non-covid illnesses.

But seven was enough as the Saints controlled the boards and rolled past Leechburg, 65-44, in the Section 3-A opener for both teams.

Alier Maluk, a 6-foot-10 freshman, scored 24 points and had 13 rebounds and 10 blocked shots for the Saints, rated third in this week’s TribHSSN rankings. Malik Shannon, a 6-4 senior, added 11 rebounds even though he was in foul trouble much of the second half.

“We most definitely did a pretty good job on the boards,” said coach Omar Foster, whose Saints are now 5-3 overall. “We were down some players, so I told the group our strength was going to be rebounding and playing good defense.”

It was the first loss of the season for No. 5 Leechburg, now 7-1 overall.

“We know they have five new guys on the team this year, and we knew they’d be hard to beat coming into the season,” said Blue Devils coach Damian Davies. “They’re beating the best teams in 6A and 5A, so we knew how good they are and how big they are.”

Leechburg didn’t trail until the second period as junior guard Marcus Cleveland had 10 of his team’s 17 points in the opening period. A basket by Obi Abdul, however, gave Imani the lead for good, 22-20, with 4 minutes, 31 seconds left in the half.

“Marcus had a great first quarter and played strong and confidently,” said Davies. “Eli Rich wasn’t afraid to go up against a 6-10 (opponent), and we have to make shots because they were getting the rebounds and we really weren’t making anything.”

Imani outscored Leechburg, 12-2, in one stretch and 17-5 overall in the second quarter.

The Saints made their share of mistakes, but the Blue Devils couldn’t take advantage. In one portion of the third period, Imani turned the ball over on four of five possessions, but Leechburg could manage just one point.

In the fourth, the Saints committed five turnovers in the first three minutes, but Leechburg could muster just two points.

“Our motto is that kids are going to make mistakes,” Foster said, “and we have to play through the mistakes and get back on defense. I tell them if they turn the ball over, you better get it back.”

“We thought maybe they wouldn’t have the guards this year,” Davies said. “But they got a bunch of new guards in and they’re really good, so it’s hard if you turn it over. They turned us over and they got some easy buckets.”

Braylan Lovelace led the Blue Devils with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Rich had 13 points and seven rebounds. Cleveland also scored 13.

Maluk had three slams during the game, but Lovelace stole the ball at midcourt late in the game and showed that he could slam it too.

Leechburg avoided a bad situation when junior Owen McDermott caught his foot underneath the padding, only a foot from the baseline at Imani’s small gym, but McDermott returned to action later.

Leechburg will next play against Propel Andrew Street at 6 p.m. Friday in a varsity-only section game.

Tags: Imani Christian, Leechburg