PIAA Class 4A boys basketball championship preview: Lincoln Park vs. Archbishop Carroll

By: Chris Harlan
Wednesday, March 20, 2024 | 11:00 PM

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Lincoln Park is making a return trip to Hershey, where the team hopes to celebrate a second straight state title behind the talented tandem of Brandin Cummings and Meleek Thomas.

Waiting for the Leopards is an opponent from Philadelphia, but that shouldn’t surprise them. They’ve now drawn a District 12 team in six of their seven state finals appearances.

This time, they face Archbishop Carroll, which made a somewhat surprising run through the state tournament. The Patriots, who qualified as the third-place team from District 12, have one of the youngest rosters in the state with no upperclassmen.

PIAA Class 4A boys basketball championship

Lincoln Park vs. Archbishop Carroll

8 p.m. Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey

PIAA titles: Lincoln Park 3 (2014, ’19, ‘23), Archbishop Carroll 1 (2009)

Lincoln Park (27-3)

Coach: Mike Bariski

Probable starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Yr., Pos.

1, Rhaki Lum, 6-2, jr., G

3, Brandin Cummings, 6-4, sr., G

4, Mikey Crawford, 6-3, sr., G

5, Meleek Thomas, 6-4, jr., G

21, Dorian McGhee, 6-2, sr., F

How they got here: Lincoln Park defeated Montour, 63-43; Uniontown, 66-62; North Catholic, 89-74; and Hampton, 74-53.

Notable: Lincoln Park is the reigning state champion. The Leopards are making their seventh appearance in the state finals, all since 2011. … They defeated Neumann-Goretti, 62-58, in last year’s Class 4A final. Their other state titles came in 2019 (Class 3A) and 2014 (A). They were runners-up in 2011, ’12 and ’17. … Lincoln Park is led by Cummings and Thomas, who form one of the state’s top scoring tandems. Cummings is a Pitt recruit. ESPN ranks Thomas as the fifth-best college prospect in the 2025 class. He has college offers from Kentucky, Duke and a number of other Division I teams. … Cummings and Thomas each average more than 20 points per game. … Mikey Crawford (Buffalo) and Dorian McGhee (Cal (Pa.)) are both college football recruits. … Rhaki Lum, who transferred from a private school in Middletown, Del., is a newcomer since last year’s trip to Hershey.

Archbishop Carroll (21-9)

Coach: Francis Bowe

Probable starting lineup

No., Name, Ht., Yr., Pos.

0, Luca Foster, 6-5, so., F

4, Ian Williams, 5-9, so., G

14, Munir Greig, 6-5, fr., G/F

22, Drew Corrao, 6-8, so., F

55, Nasir Ralls, 6-0, so., G

How they got here: Archbishop Carroll defeated Big Spring, 66-59; Allentown Central Catholic, 62-56; Carver E&S, 60-42; and Scranton Prep, 66-56.

Notable: Archbishop Carroll has no juniors or seniors on the roster. … Foster has college offers from Penn State, Temple and St. Joseph’s. Corrao lists offers from Albany and High Point. … Greig scored a team-high 20 points in a semifinal win. Williams had 17 points, freshman guard Darrell Davis had 12 and Ralls added 11. Foster had 10 rebounds. … The team reached the state playoffs as the third-place qualifier from District 12, which includes Philadelphia public and Catholic League schools. … This is Carroll’s fourth appearance in the state finals. The Patriots defeated Greensburg Salem, 75-54, in 2009. They were the state runners-up to Imhotep Charter in 2013 and Neumann-Goretti in 2015. … This year, Carroll lost to Neumann-Goretti, 89-83, in the quarterfinals of the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs. Lincoln Park faced Neumann-Goretti in early January and lost 82-67. … Archbishop Carroll is in Radnor, which is about 13 miles west of Philadelphia.

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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