Markus Frank’s knack around basket leads unbeaten Quaker Valley past Lincoln Park
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Saturday, January 22, 2022 | 12:40 AM
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank scores past Lincoln Park’s Jadon Bishop during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero scores past Lincoln Park’s L.A. Pratt during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero dunks over Lincoln Park’s DeAndre Moye during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Adou Thiero outreaches Lincoln Park’s L.A. Pratt for a loose ball during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank (13) takes the free throw line next to Adou Thiero late in their Section 2-4A game against Lincoln Park on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank scores past Lincoln Park’s Dontay Green during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank claps after scoring against Lincoln Park during a Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Jack Gardinier shoots a three-pointer during a Section 2-4A game against Lincoln Park on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
The Quaker Valley student section celebrates a Quakers three-pointer during a Section 2-4A game against Lincoln Park on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Wil Dunda celebrates a three-pointer during a Section 2-4A game against Lincoln Park on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank celebrates after scoring against Lincoln Park during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank celebrates as time expires against Lincoln Park during their Section 2-4A game on Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Midland.
Quaker Valley’s Markus Frank has a knack for scoring around the rim from angles that seem almost impossible, yet he makes them with ease.
And he makes them in a hurry.
“At least once a practice, he’ll make a shot and we’ll all find ourselves looking at each other and laughing, saying, ‘What was that?’” Quakers coach Mike Mastroianni said. “He just has a knack around the basket. He understands angles.”
The 6-foot-5 senior was sharp Friday night, but Lincoln Park wasn’t laughing.
Frank scored a game-high 31 points and Adou Thiero had 29 as No. 1 Quaker Valley stayed undefeated with a 75-67 victory over No. 3 Lincoln Park in Midland. The QV teammates combined for 22 points in the fourth quarter, negating any late rally started by the Leopards’ Brandin Cummings, who scored 30 points.
“I’ve kind of always had that knack,” Frank said of his skills around the rim, “but I work on it, too.”
Frank made his first nine shots to start the second half, some in transition and many with contact in a game that turned physical early — and had few whistles.
He scored 20 points after halftime.
“You can’t let him dribble full-speed ahead like a freight train and get past half court,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said, “because then there’s nothing you can do.”
One of Frank’s freight-train layups came with about four minutes left, at a time when Quaker Valley was clinging to a one-point lead. Thiero scored another driving layup about 30 seconds later for a 64-59 lead, putting the Quaker in position to win the game with free throws.
Thiero went 9 for 10 from the foul line in the fourth quarter — all in the final three minutes.
The win gave Quaker Valley (11-0, 8-0) a regular-season sweep of Lincoln Park (8-3, 5-2) and kept the Quakers alone atop the Section 2-4A standings.
“You never try to get ahead of yourself because the section is so good,” Mastroianni said. “But obviously winning here helps us out. We’ll enjoy it for a day and tuck it away.”
Lincoln Park played without freshman starter Meleek Thomas, who was sidelined with an ankle injury, and lost sophomore Vincent DePaula to a wrist injury in the game.
Cummings tried to rally Lincoln Park with second-half 3s. One of Cummings’ 3s cut Quaker Valley’s lead to 60-59 in the fourth, but the Quaker Valley did a good job of slowing the tempo whenever Lincoln Park got momentum.
The Leopards scored more than four consecutive points only once in the second half.
“If we’re getting runs and runs and runs, we want to keep it going fast,” Thiero said. “But when they’re getting runs, we wanted to slow the game down, so everyone can calm down. The adrenaline and everything lowers a little bit.”
Mastroianni said his Quakers played largely man defense when they defeated Lincoln Park, 77-74, on Dec. 23. This time they deployed four different zone defenses.
“We thought we had to do something to keep them off balance,” Mastroianni said.
Quaker Valley led 21-16 after one quarter before Lincoln Park grabbed the lead with consecutive second-quarter 3-pointers by Cummings, who finished with six 3s.
Lincoln Park led 32-31 at half.
“We wanted to do a couple of things if we got the lead to more than one possession, but we didn’t get it,” Bariski said. “It’s not the end of the world. We’re moving forward.”
Quaker Valley started the second half with a 12-5 run with all 12 points scored by Frank and Thiero. The Quakers led 53-47 after three.
“This game was about pace,” Mastroianni said. “Lincoln Park wants to go. … We were just trying to disrupt the pace a little bit. I think we just did it enough.”
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
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