North Catholic had mounted a comeback, cut the deficit to three points at the start of the fourth quarter, had momentum and had the capacity home crowd making plenty of noise. So, in the middle of the blaze, Lincoln Park turned and put the game in the hands of a … ninth-grader?
“But he’s a special ninth-grader,” said Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski.
Sleek Meleek Thomas was more than willing to try and take over the game. And certainly capable.
Thomas, a slender and smooth 6-foot-3 freshman guard, made play after play in the fourth quarter and pushed Lincoln Park to a 77-67 victory against host North Catholic in a WPIAL Class 4A quarterfinal Wednesday night. It was a matchup between two teams that played for a WPIAL title the past three seasons and the win put Lincoln Park (17-6) one victory away from making a seventh-consecutive championship appearance. And there was no doubting Thomas was key.
Thomas scored Lincoln Park’s first nine points of the fourth quarter, 15 overall in the quarter and finished with a game-high 26 points. He made all five of his field-goal attempts in the fourth quarter, was 4 of 4 from the free-throw line and made a big steal.
Lincoln Park has senior guard L.A. Pratt, who has signed with Duquesne University. The Leopards also have talented sophomore guard Brandin Cummings, who also has a few Division I college scholarship offers. But they took a back seat to the freshman Thomas in crunch time. But that was by design.
Thomas, by the way, has offers from Pitt and St. John’s.
“We saw a mismatch that Meleek had and because of the length that he has the other kids saw the mismatch,” Bariski said. “We said in the huddle (before the fourth quarter), let’s see who is guarding who. We had the matchup we wanted with Meleek.
“I didn’t have any problem letting him go because he’s so talented and so confident.”
Thomas, who missed close to a month of the season with a foot injury, had eight points in the first quarter before picking up his third foul near the end of the quarter and sitting out the rest of the half. But about that fourth quarter.
“I think I just took what was given, but I think I also took it upon myself to take over,” Thomas said. “Us three (Pratt, Cummings and Thomas), we know when it’s time for one of us to go. They saw it in me and said, ‘It’s go time. Step up.’”
Cummings finished with 17 points and Pratt 15.
“They have three Division I kids,” North Catholic coach Jim Rocco said. “They have other guys, but those three are such a collection of talent. They’re so potent.”
North Catholic (18-4), trying to make the semifinals for the seventh consecutive year, fell behind early, trailed by 20-9 in the first quarter and 40-23 in the second. North Catholic slowly came back in the second half, mainly on the strength of 6-6 forward Ben Tomer, who scored a career-high 21 points.
“We said if the big kid beats us, God bless them,” Bariski said. “But we wanted to stay attached to their shooters and stop their 3-pointers.”
North Catholic had only five 3-pointers for the game.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: February 24, 2022, 3:55 a.m.
