There was a point late in the first half when Aliquippa had all the makings of an upset victim.
Northgate, which lost a pair of Section 1 matchups to Aliquippa in the regular season, had taken it to the Quips. The Flames had twice opened up an 11-point lead and were on the brink of claiming the first boys basketball title in school history.
“That was not a good feeling,” Aliquippa coach Nick Lackovich said. “They came out ready to play. They executed like crazy.”
That was until Cameron Lindsey took the Quips on his shoulders and turned a potential loss into the 13th title in Aliquippa history.
Lindsey was dominant in the paint as he scored 12 of his game-high 19 points and pulled down nine of his 17 rebounds in the second half to help top-seeded Aliquippa (20-6) pull out a 52-40 victory over No. 6 Northgate (19-7) in the WPIAL Class 2A final at Petersen Events Center.
It is the first title for the Quips since the team capped off a perfect 30-0 season with WPIAL and PIAA Class 2A championships in 2016.
“We just tried to figure out the mismatches and the defense,” Lindsey said. “In the first half, I think we took a lot of difficult shots that were unnecessary and I think it was from the nerves. But once we settled in, they just let me take over.”
It was a disappointing finish for Northgate, which was making its first finals appearance since 1988. But it was also an emotional end to a journey that began when Cam Williams took over a program that was 4-18 in 2018-19 and 6-16 in 2019-20 and in three seasons turned it into a WPIAL finalist.
“We’ve been in the gym every day for the last three years, and we went to every playoff game and we’d know that we wanted to get there, and we made it here,” said Williams, who was in tears at the podium after the game. “That’s all you can ask for is the opportunity, and the opportunity is special.”
It wasn’t like Northgate looked like it was just happy to be there or that the big stage was too much for the young team. On the contrary. The feisty Flames were dominant in almost every aspect of the game in the early going as they opened up a 10-point lead, 18-8, on a Josh Williams basket with 52.5 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
“It was about what we expected,” Lackovich said. “This was the third time we played them. They played well all through the tournament, and it was just hat I thought was going to happen.”
Williams came into the game leading the team with 21.2 points per game, but after putting up six points in the first half as Northgate built up a 27-16 lead with 2:59 left in the second quarter, he went virtually silent.
Aliquippa guard Quentin Goode locked up Williams and held him to five second-half points and half his average.
“That’s what we wanted him to do is to shoot off the dribble because he can’t,” Goode said. “It felt real good considering he had a hot start coming into the playoffs.”
With Williams largely negated, it was time for Aliquippa to launch a comeback. The cool-as-ever Quips, who arrived at the venue and posed for their championship photos wearing dark sunglasses, scored the final eight points of the first half — capped off by a hoop from Lindsey with 0.3 seconds remaining — and opened the third quarter with a 7-0 run that turned an 11-point deficit into a 31-27 lead.
It was the only lead change of the game.
“We did some very uncharacteristic things, but we knew and we stressed, once we were able to take the lead, it would be over at that point,” Lackovich said. “Once we did, I don’t think we ever gave it back up.”
With the victory, Aliquippa tied Farrell for the second-most boys championships in history. It was also the 19th time a school won both WPIAL football and basketball titles in the same school year.
Aliquippa has done it four times, in 1987-88, 2003-04 and 2015-16. But when asked which was sweeter, neither Lindsey nor Goode hesitated.
“Basketball,” Lindsey said. “I feel like basketball is a lot more difficult than a football championship. Just winning the game, period.”
Keith Barnes: kbarnes.pg@gmail.com and Twitter @kbarnes_pghsprt.
First Published: March 4, 2023, 9:12 p.m.
