Clock controversy heats up rivalry as No. 1 Lincoln Park defeats No. 2 Aliquippa in OT

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, December 18, 2018 | 11:54 PM

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Any good rivalry needs a little controversy, but this one had Aliquippa coach Dwight Hines shaking his head.

Clinging to a two-point lead with 5 seconds left, Aliquippa’s Zuriah Fisher grabbed an offensive rebound and passed to teammate Gevon Tyson, who threw the basketball into the air to run off the final ticks on the home clock.

Except that the clock had started late.

“Ooooh, that’s too much of a controversy,” Hines said. “Not on your home court, you know what I mean? That clock should have run. That game should have been over.”

Instead, Lincoln Park’s Keeno Holmes caught the ball, was fouled, made two free throws with 3.7 seconds left and forced overtime. Given new life, No. 1 Lincoln Park defeated No. 2 Aliquippa, 73-69, in overtime Tuesday night, extending the Leopards’ section winning streak to 78 games.

Lincoln Park (4-0, 2-0) hasn’t lost to a section opponent since Feb. 11, 2011, but Aliquippa (2-1, 1-1) came awfully close.

“What can you honestly say?” Hines said. “You feel you have the game in your hands and adversity hits. … We thought we’d seen it all, but that right there was another piece added to the puzzle.”

The unanswerable question was, had the clock started promptly, would time have expired before Holmes was fouled? Nobody could say for sure.

“If that happens at our place, it’s a totally different conversation,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. “But we’re at Aliquippa, so it is what it is.”

Aliquippa was outscored 14-10 in overtime.

Tied at 64 early in the extra period, Lincoln Park scored six consecutive points as the Quips went scoreless for nearly two minutes. A Casey Oliver free throw gave the Leopards a 70-64 lead with 80 seconds left, and then they held on for the win.

“That was a nail-biter,” said Holmes, who had 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. “That was one of the most intense games I’ve ever been in.”

The game turned physical quickly as the teams combined for 48 fouls and 69 free throws. Each team had two players foul out. Lincoln Park won the free throw battle, making 27 of 39 from the line. Aliquippa converted 15 of 30.

Isaiah Smith led Lincoln Park with 25 points and Oliver added 12 points.

Aliquippa’s MJ Devonshire scored 15 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. Will Gipson had 13 points and Eli Kosanovich had 11 for the Quips, who led for most of the night.

The Section 1-3A teams rematch Jan. 22 at Lincoln Park.

“This rivalry has developed in a short period of time — three years,” Bariski said. “You can take nothing away from Aliquippa, athletes from top to bottom who want to play hard and don’t know how to lose. But we have basketball players from top to bottom who also don’t want to lose.”

Lincoln Park had scored only 14 first-half points and trailed by 10 at halftime. Against Aliquippa’s 3-2 zone defense, Lincoln Park made only 5 of 29 first-half shots, a 16-minute struggle that Bariski called the worst he’d seen.

Holmes was 1 for 10 from the field in the half.

The Quips — with a roster full of state championship football players — played Lincoln Park aggressively, an approach that worked well early. But Lincoln Park upped its pressure defense and rallied with a 20-point third quarter and 25 points in the fourth.

A 3-pointer and layup by Oliver on consecutive possessions gave Lincoln Park its first lead after half, 53-50 with 2:36 left.

Aliquippa rallied back behind Devonshire, who scored the Quips’ final five points of regulation. That included one of two free throws by Devonshire with 5 seconds left, but his second-shot miss led to a loose ball and controversy.

After Holmes was fouled, the slow-to-start, fourth-quarter clock quickly ran to zeroes after the whistle. The officials added 3.7 seconds and sent Holmes to the line.

When the ball was loose, Holmes’ eyes weren’t on the clock.

“All I was thinking was: ‘We need a steal,’” Holmes said. “I saw the ball go in the air and I forgot about everything else. We had to get it. The bottom line was, we needed to get that ball to have a shot.”

Chris Harlan is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris at charlan@tribweb.com or via Twitter @CHarlan_Trib.

Tags: Aliquippa, Lincoln Park