Category: High School Basketball

Friday December 15, 2023 Boys High School Basketball

Riverside – 52

Beaver Falls – 56

Aliquippa 55, Lincoln Park 52 (Final)

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

When an individual player fouls out, you lose a piece of the team.
When multiple players foul out, you lose a chunk of the team.
But the one thing you do not lose is the team itself.

With three players fouled out in crunch time, the Aliquippa Quips held on to beat the Lincoln Park Leopards 55-52 in the PIAA AA West Final. The game, played in front of 2,623 at the Metheny Fieldhouse at Geneva College, saw the Quips survive the final minutes without Jassir Jordan, Robert Crute, and Chucky Humphries–all three fouling out in the final quarter.

Kaezon Pugh led the Quips with 16 points, including being 8-9 from the charity stripe. He was named the CCBC Player of the Game for Alquippa. The Player of The Game for Lincoln Park, who scored 20 to lead all scorers.

Lincoln Park finishes its season at 25-5. Aliquippa (29-0) plays Mastery Charter North in the PIAA Championship at 2 PM in Hershey on Saturday afternoon.

Bob Barrickman and Tom Hays had the call tonight. They now present beavercountyradio.com with tonight’s recap, final call, and an interview with winning coach Nick Lackovich.

Final Call

Nick Lackovich Interview

Aliquippa 50, West Middlesex 20 (Final)

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Sometimes a basketball game is won when the scoring pace rather resembles football.

It was 2-0 Aliquippa at the media timeout.
It was 8-0 Aliquippa at the end of one quarter.
It was 16-9 Aliquippa at the half.

Luckily for the Quips, many of their star players also played football, and they knew how to win there too.

Despite early foul trouble, the Quips coasted to a 50-20 win over the West Middlesex Big Red in the PIAA Boys’ AA Quarterfinals on Saturday.

Chuckie Humphries and Jassir Jordan led the Quips in scoring with 14 a piece, while Josh Porterfield led the Big Red with 8. Porterfield earned CCBC Player of the Game honors along with Humphries.

West Middlesex ends their season at 20-9. Aliquippa is now 28-0 and will face Lincoln Park once again, this time for a chance to play in the PIAA Championship in Hershey.

Tom Hays has this recap for beavercountyradio.com.

Lincoln Park 68, Quaker Valley 44 (Final)

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

The hope for Quaker Valley was that between Nick Aloi and Nelly Cummings, Lincoln Park’s top shooters, is that one of them would go cold, and that would allow the Quakers to put more pressure on the other.

It didn’t happen. And to make matters worse for the Quakers, Nick and Nelly had company.

With the team effort powering them, Lincoln Park steadily advanced to the PIAA Class AA semifinals with a 68-44 victory over the Quaker Valley Quakers. The Leopards ran out to a 14-4 lead, and though the Quakers cut it to as little as 4, a strong start to the second half propelled Lincoln Park towards the win.

Aloi led all scorers with 23 points, followed by Nelly Cummings with 19 and Quaker Valley’s Amos Luptak with 14. Luptak joins Aloi as the selected CCBC Players of The Game.

Lincoln Park (25-4) moves on to the PIAA AA Semifinals, where they will have a rematch of the WPIAL Championship with Aliquippa. Quaker Valley ends its season at 22-7.

Bob Barrickman has this scoring recap for beavercountyradio.com. He and Jason Colangelo interviewed Leopards coach Mike Bariski, and it too is presented here.

Mike Bariski Interview

Quaker Valley 57, Greensburg Central Catholic 47 (Final)

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

There is no W in pretty.
There is no W in dominant.
There is no W in foul trouble.

But there is a W in win, and that’s ultimately what Quaker Valley wanted.

The Quakers defeated the Greensburg Central Catholic Centurians by a score of 57-47 at Peters Township. The game saw Quaker Valley start the game on a 16-3 run, but persistence allowed the Centurians to keep within a reasonable range. This game was also slowed down by mesmerizing foul trouble on both sides, as six players fouled out of the game (4 for QV, 2 for GCC).

Coletrane Washington led all scorers with 23 for the Quakers, while Domenic Rullo notched 12 for the Centurians. These two were picked as the CCBC Players of The Game.

Greensburg’s season closes at 24-3. Quaker Valley improves to 22-6 and faces Lincoln Park in the State Quarterfinals on Saturday.

Bruce Frey has this scoring recap for beavercountyradio.com.

Aliquippa 56, Bishop Canevin 38 (Final)

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

27 down, three to go. At least that’s the goal for the WPIAL Class AA Champions.

Aliquippa remains undefeated with a comfortable 56-38 victory over the Bishop Canevin Crusaders at Baldwin. Leading the Quips was Kaezon Pugh with 20 points, while Mitchell King scored 15 to lead Canevin. The leading scorers were chosen as the CCBC Players of The Game.

Bishop Canevin ends its season at 20-7. Aliquippa improves to 27-0 and will play West Middlesex in the PIAA Class AA Quarterfinals on Saturday.

Bob Barrickman has this scoring recap for beavercountyradio.com.

Lincoln Park 76, Washington 73 [Final]

(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)

Another night, another game where a big lead almost slipped away from the potential victors.

Lincoln Park led 47-35 early in the second half, but the Washington Prexies stormed back to take a 67-63 lead midway through the fourth. But the Leopards were not to be denied, ending the game on a 13-6 run and winning the PIAA 2nd Round match at Peters Township, 76-73.

Nelly Cummings led the way for the Leopards with 21 points, including the bucket that gave Lincoln Park the lead back after being down. His timeliness and scoring prowess give him CCBC Player of The Game honors, along with Markel Pulliam, who scored 17 for the Little Prexies.

Washington ends its season at 20-8. Lincoln Park plays Quaker Valley in the PIAA Quarterfinals on Saturday.

Tom Hays has this scoring recap for beavercountyradio.com.

New Castle 56, Beaver Falls 52 [Final]

Many opinions could be held following the PIAA Class AAA Second Round tilt between the boys from New Castle and Beaver Falls.

It could be said that New Castle deserved to win based on the sub-par shooting Beaver Falls had in the paint. It could be said that Beaver Falls had more confidence in the final quarter and did not succumb to New Castle’s pressure. It could be said that this was the best game of the PIAA playoffs so far this year.

But opinion must always give way to fact. And the fact is this: Beaver Falls’ season is over.

A late free throw by Marcus Hooker officially stopped a Beaver Falls comeback and sealed a 56-52 victory over the Tigers on Beaver County Radio. This is the third time that the Red Hurricane has beaten Beaver Falls this year, but by the slimmest margin (4; the previous victories by NC were by 22 and 11).

The Tigers were powered by junior Josh Creach, whose 37 points led all scorers. He earned CCBC Player of The Game honors for BF, while Marcus Hooker earned the honors for the Red Hurricane with 18 points. New Castle was led in scoring by Marquel Hooker with 21.

The WPIAL Champion Tigers end their season with a record of 24-4. New Castle improves to 25-2 and will play Bishop McDevitt in the State Quarterfinals Friday night.

Tom Hays and Bob Barrickman have this recap for beavercountyradio.com.