Lincoln Park Falls Big to Neumann-Goretti in Boys 3-A Finals
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Friday, March 24, 2017 | 12:06 AM
As the clocked ticked on the end of Lincoln Park’s season, the Leopards (25-6) took their lopsided loss in stride in the PIAA boys 3-A title game to District 12 powerhouse Neumann-Goretti (24-7), falling by a final score of 89-58.
“We had a game plan coming in and it just didn’t work,” said Lincoln Park guard Evan Brown. “They were super athletes. They play hard defense. We know someone was going to be open, we just didn’t hit the shots.”
Lincoln Park kept the contest in check in the first several minutes of the first quarter, but Neumann-Goretti’s tag team of Division I talent in point guard Quade Green (Kentucky) and big man Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree (Villanova) dominated with a combined 37 points total, while Green went six-for-seven from the field.
“I saw them on tape and I saw them in person; I knew they were that good,” said Lincoln Park head coach Mike Bariski. “When we were coming in (Cosby-Roundtree) was right in front of me and he had to duck under the metal detector. We were OK guards to guards in this game; it was the bigs that made the difference.”
In addition to Green and Cosby-Roundtree, Lincoln Park was outmatched inside on defense, with Neumann-Goretti reaching the bonus with a little under a minute remaining in the first quarter. Paired with offensive sets that seemed out of sync, Lincoln Park trailed sizably at the half, 42-19. From there, Neumann-Goretti rolled to its fourth-straight state title and seven in the past eight seasons.
Despite the outcome, Nelly Cummings dropped a game-high 37 points, all while being guarded by Green for most of the evening. With his performance, the Bowling Green signee moved into fifth place on the all-time scoring list, passing current Philadelphia 76er and Chartiers Valley alumnus T.J. McConnell.
“He did his thing, he did what Nelly does,” said Brown. “He made a statement that he’s a better athlete out there than some of the recruits that are ranked higher than him.”
Neumann-Goretti 89 – Lincoln Park 58:
Lincoln Park Leopards : 9 – 10 – 16 – 23 = 58
Neumann-Goretti Saints : 17 – 25 – 25 – 22 = 89
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