As talented as Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas are, as dominating as they can be, Lincoln Park still is going to need production from its “other” guys at times this season.
Like in the second half Sunday night.
Lincoln Park, a state championship team last year, played host to Moon in the Geneva College/Midland Classic in what was a battle of No. 1-ranked teams on the first weekend of the high school basketball season. A near-capacity crowd estimated at 1,200 created a terrific atmosphere for an early-season game and Cummings and Thomas, a splendid guard tandem, were their usual selves in the first half, scoring all but one of Lincoln Park’s points.
In the second half, Cummings and Thomas went cold, but a couple of those “other” guys came through and helped Lincoln Park to a 63-53 victory.
The win stretched Lincoln Park’s winning streak to 20 games, dating back to last season. The Leopards, the Post-Gazette’s No. 1-ranked WPIAL Class 4A team, should give plenty of thanks to Dontay Green and Mike Crawford that they are 2-0 this season. It was the first game for Moon, the No. 1 5A team.
Green had one point in the first half, Crawford was scoreless and they took three shots between them. But Crawford scored 11 in the second half, Green 10 and they made 9 of 13 shots between them. They certainly didn’t do anything fancy, scoring mostly on putbacks and a few drives to the basket. But their production was needed because Thomas and Cummings were a combined 3 of 16 in the second half and had only 11 points. Thomas, ranked the No. 7 junior in the country by MaxPreps.com, and Cummings, who has signed with Pitt, were the Post-Gazette co-Players of the Year last season.
“People say when we come into the gym with those two guys [Thomas and Cummings], we already have 40-50 points to start,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. “The other three, four or five guys, I need 20 from them. If I get 20 we’re a dangerous team. It could be 20 from one or they could split it up.”
Green is a 6-foot-5 senior forward who made 4 of 5 shots in the second half, all from close range. Crawford, a 6-3 senior guard-forward, made 5 of 8.
Thomas and Cummings both finished with 19 points. A year ago, Thomas averaged 24.9 points and Cummings 23.1. While they both had a little trouble making shots in the second half, both took some difficult shots.
“As long as I’ve been around basketball around here, I’ve never seen a duo as good as those two,” said Moon coach Gino Palmosina. “Everybody in the area should appreciate those two and go see them play. They’re very special players. We had a whole game plan for them. Sometimes our coverage was good, but our game plan was to try and limit the easy ones from everyone. We did a terrible job of that in the second half. You can’t give a team of that caliber easy ones.”
Moon has a pretty good tandem of its own in 6-4 senior guard-forward Elijah Guillory and 6-4 senior forward Mike Santicola. But Moon lost Santicola in the second quarter to an ankle injury. Guillory, who is getting some Division I college interest, did his best to keep Moon in it, scoring 25 points. Moon trailed at halftime by only 28-25 and Guillory scored 17 points in the second half, mostly on post-up moves and medium-range shots. He made 8 of 14 shots in the second half, but the rest of the Tigers were only 4 of 12 from the field in the final two quarters and scored 11 points.
“I think [Guillory] is a hidden gem,” Palmosina said. “I think some [college] coaches are missing out. He’s a top talent in this area, no doubt.”
The absence of Santicola hurt. But so did Lincoln Park’s “other guys.”
Moon actually took a 37-36 lead with 2:12 left in the third quarter, but Lincoln Park went on a 14-3 run over the next 3:30 to grab a 50-40 lead. Crawford scored seven points in the run.
“In the first half, we didn’t play fast,” Bariski said. “We walked the ball up the court, dribbled it 50 times and tried to get by someone. For us to be the team we are, we have to play fast. In the second half, we did. We sped them up. When we play downhill, we’re a better team.”
When asked if he learned anything about his team, Bariski said, “I learned who our willing defenders are. They call can defend, but you have to be a willing defender. Sometimes guys don’t want to defend, but it’s necessary.”
So are the “other” guys.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mwhiteburgh
First Published: December 4, 2023, 3:49 a.m.
