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Lincoln Park’s Brandin Cummings scores 28, says goodbye to beloved home court in PIAA win

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Saturday, March 9, 2024 | 12:50 AM

Brandin Cummings kissed his hand before touching the Leopard logo on Lincoln Park’s basketball court, offering a kiss goodbye as his final home game was winding down.

“My whole life, I’ve been playing in this gym,” said the Midland native, who grew up near the school. “I’m from here, so this has been my gym for however many years. Knowing that this is the last one — and then seeing all of my people out here supporting me — it really means a lot to me.”

But before the senior handed out hugs and posed for pictures, Cummings made a few more memories in a 28-point effort Friday night as Lincoln Park started its state title defense with a 73-56 victory over Montour in the first round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

Cummings’ highlights included seven baskets in the first half, a last-second 3-pointer to lead by 14 points at halftime and an off-balance layup in the third that somehow crawled over the rim as he fell to the floor.

He credited “the basketball gods” for the spin on that improbable shot, but it could’ve just been his home-court advantage. A 2,000-point career scorer and Pitt-bound college recruit, Cummings said he couldn’t begin to count how many friends and family were there to watch his last home game.

“I consider everybody from Midland my family,” he said. “So, I’d say probably in the hundreds.”

But Cummings was quick to insist that despite the hoopla, his season is far from over.

The win advances Lincoln Park (24-3) into a second-round matchup with Uniontown on Tuesday at a neutral site and time to be announced. The teams also met in the WPIAL semifinals, and Lincoln Park won, 74-63.

Cummings was one of three Lincoln Park scorers in double figures Friday. Meleek Thomas scored 24 points with four 3-pointers and Rhaki Lum added 12. Both are juniors.

Montour (18-9) stayed close with Lincoln Park into the second quarter and was trailing by only seven with two minutes left in the half. Spartans senior Jake Wolfe scored a team-high 25 points, junior Ama Sow had 20, and junior Kaleb Platz finished with 12.

A second-quarter layup by Platz slimmed Lincoln Park’s lead to 31-24, but Cummings closed out the first half with seven straight points on a jumper, a layup and the last-second 3.

“We had our No. 1 (defender) on him, he was glued to him, and he still made shots right over him,” Montour coach Bill Minear said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. … He’s used to making off-balanced shots. How do you defend that?”

Minear said the Cummings and Thomas tandem is obviously a tough matchup for any defense since both are 6-foot-4 guards. They finish athletic plays around the rim, but they also take and make long 3-pointers. Lincoln Park combined went 5 for 6 from beyond the arc in the game’s first six minutes, shots that gave the Leopards an early lead they never lost.

“We said to our guys: ‘They’re going to make some shots that you think they can’t, and we’ve just got to keep fighting,’” Minear said. “Our guys did, but they made more than we thought they would, I guess. A couple of 3s were from the volleyball line.”

Thomas had three 3s in the first half, and Cummings and Lum made two each. Those were shots that let Lincoln Park race out to leads of 14-6 and 25-12. In all, the Leopards made seven 3s in the first half and led 38-24 at halftime.

Cummings went 7 for 10 shooting from the field in the first half in a gym where he sure feels comfortable.

“If we go and check the stats on how many games I won here and how many I lost, I guaranteed there’s a lot more winning,” he said. “I love it here.”

Cummings said his memories of the gym date back to when older brother Nelly was playing middle school basketball there. Nelly already has his name on the wall as a 2,000-point scorer, and Brandin will join that banner too.

“I remember him when he was in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. “He always came around with his brother. They live a block and a half away, so he was always in here running and shooting. Pitt is getting a special one.”

Lincoln Park pulled away with an 11-2 run in the third quarter. The run started with five points from Thomas before Cummings scored three consecutive baskets to lead 49-29. One of those three was the off-balance layup that ended with him sprawled on the floor.

“He hasn’t been feeling well for about five or six games,” Bariski said. “He got sick, so he’s coming back into his own. He put in a lot of extra time shooting this week and it really paid off.”

With Lincoln Park ahead by 17 points, Bariski took Cummings and Thomas out with 1:12 left in the fourth quarter. On his way to the bench, Cummings paused briefly to kiss the court.

“I wanted to focus on the game and make sure we played well, but obviously that was in the back of my mind,” Cummings said. “It was my last game here. It was my farewell.”

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.

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