Lincoln Park tops Quaker Valley in battle for section lead, will rematch Thursday

By: Chris Harlan
Tuesday, February 16, 2021 | 10:33 PM

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Brandin Cummings gave Lincoln Park the lead with a gutsy 3-pointer in the closing minutes, made two clutch free throws in the final seconds and led his team in scoring for the third game in a row.

Oh, and he’s a freshman that comes off the bench.

Cummings scored 15 points, and Lincoln Park went 5 for 6 from the foul line in the final 36 seconds Tuesday night to finish off a resilient 67-64 section victory at Quaker Valley that needed all 32 minutes.

Yes, the 6-foot-3 guard is talented enough to start, but why mess with a good thing?

“I’m a guy who believes in karma,” said Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski, pointing to the leopard-print socks he wears every game. “He’s coming off the bench because we’re winning with him coming off the bench. Should he probably be in the starting lineup? Yeah, sometimes he probably should. But I’m not messing with my karma.”

The hectic fourth quarter had three lead changes, two ties and nobody was ahead by more than five.

Yet, in a crazy schedule twist, the teams will meet again in 48 hours when the Section 2-4A contenders rematch Thursday night in Midland. Second-ranked Lincoln Park (11-4, 9-1) has Wednesday off, but this was the first of five games in five days for fifth-ranked Quaker Valley (7-3, 6-2).

“The more games we can get in here in the next two weeks, we’re going to get better,” QV coach Mike Mastroianni said. “We need to play.”

Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero scored a game-high 20 points and Markus Frank added 19. The Quakers took a 5-2 lead early in the first quarter and held it until midway through the fourth.

Their largest lead was 38-32 in the third.

Lincoln Park had five scorers in double figures led by Cummings, whose late 3-pointer broke a 53-53 tie with about 4 minutes left, putting the Leopards ahead for good. Joe Scott scored 14 points, L.A. Pratt and Dakari Bradford each had 12 and Elias Bishop added 10.

Cummings, the brother of former Lincoln Park star Nelly Cummings, has scored 51 points combined in his past three games. He finished Tuesday with three 3s.

“What he is, is a pure scorer,” Bariski said.

Cummings said he’s fine with his role.

“I’ve been in the gym. I’m putting my work in,” he said. “I’m glad to show it on the court.”

Clinging to a one-point lead, Cummings made two free throws with 36 seconds left and Bishop added two more with 28 seconds to lead 66-61. When Quaker Valley cut the lead to three, Lincoln Park’s Ali Brown made one of two free throws with 5 seconds left.

Overall, Lincoln Park went 12 for 18 from the free throw line including 7 for 10 in the fourth.

“We’re a very good free throw shooting team,” Cummings said. “Earlier in the season, there were some instances where we did miss those clutch free throws. As the season goes on, we’re starting to get more comfortable down the stretch.”

Quaker Valley led 17-14 after one quarter, 33-28 at half and 48-46 after three. But Lincoln Park stole the lead with a quick 10-4 run early in the fourth that included consecutive 3s by Pratt and Cummings to lead 56-53.

Three layups by Bradford pushed Lincoln Park’s lead to 60-55.

“We’re not really as big as we have been in the past,” Mastroianni said. “Rebounding is always an issue for us. We got a couple of stops but we weren’t able to keep them off the boards.”

Quaker Valley narrowed the gap to 62-61 on a layup by Frank with about a minute left but couldn’t get any closer. The Quakers made only one shot in the final 2 minutes.

“We were down at halftime, and we were able to fight back and get a big win,” Bishop said. “Our team showed a lot of heart and determination.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: Lincoln Park, Quaker Valley