Scorching 2nd half leads Lincoln Park past North Catholic boys
O’HARA TWP — Deep shooting was North Catholic’s saving grace through the first two quarters of its PIAA Class 4A quarterfinal playoff against defending state champion Lincoln Park.
Though, there wasn’t much that could help the Trojans countervail the clip that their opponent shot at in the latter half of Friday night’s 89-74 defeat at Fox Chapel High School.
North Catholic (18-10) trailed by just four at the midway point thanks to a Leopards (26-3) scoring drought of over four minutes heading into that break. During that span, three-pointers by sophomore Jude Rottmann and senior Max Hurray — a tandem that combined for 14 treys on the night — shaved a double-digit deficit down to a couple of shots.
“We felt pretty good because we didn’t start off all that well,” Trojans coach Jim Rocco said of his side’s morale halfway through. “Just too many unforced errors and turnovers. Against a team with this level of talent, you obviously can’t do that. But we fought back.
“That’s what we’ve been all year. We’ve been a little bit of street fighters. We fought back, we were resilient, and had them within striking distance.”
All six of North Catholic’s makes in the second — and nine of 11 in the opening half — were from beyond the arc.
“A lot of fouls called, a lot of contact, and some of their contact gave them space to make threes,” Leopards coach Mike Bariski said. “We practiced for a couple days, planning on not giving them space and staying attached.
“But we just lost guys, and when we lost guys, they made threes.”
In the initial 10:54 out of halftime, the Leopards picked the pace back up and went 16-for-21 (76.1%) from the field. At one point in the third quarter, they added to their total on nine of 10 possessions.
Lincoln Park stretched a five-point lead to 19 during that term, which included four Trojans turnovers, a trey that University of Pittsburgh commit Brandon Cummings didn’t bother to watch go in, and an emphatic left-handed jam from blue-chipper Meleek Thomas.
“They jumped out on us in the second half,” Rocco said. “They made plays. They’re so immensely talented. ... What people don’t appreciate enough is their defensive pressure.
“We were trying to do some things to get loose, but they’re so physical, long, and athletic. It was really tough. Every play that we had to make was stressed.”
The Leopards started latching onto whoever was closest when getting back to the defensive end and tried to fight through scarlet curtains that had previously allowed Hurray, Rottman, Donnie Schubert, and Jason Fredericks swish tries from beyond the arc.
“We started switching absolutely everything,” Bariski said. “We weren’t switching ball screens in the first half, we weren’t switching down screens — so we started doing that. It worked a little bit better and it kind of bothered them.
“We jumped some of the passing lanes and we got a bunch of steals.”
North Catholic was behind by 18 entering the fourth. Lincoln Park’s advantage peaked at 20 after Rhaki Lum’s three-pointer with 5:46 to play.
Hurray led all scorers with 30 points, including six second-half treys.
“He was shooting from the (mid-court logo) fox out there,” Bariski said. “We’ll give him that. ... He was just unbelievable tonight.”
Cummings and University of Buffalo gridiron commit Mikey Crawford each had 23 for the Leopards. Thomas, a five-star recruit who 247Sports ranks as a top-10 recruit in the Class of 2025, had 22.
NORTH CATHOLIC 74
Max Hurray 10 2-3 30, Jude Rottmann 7 0-0 20, Eli Stofko 4 0-1 8, Jason Fredericks 2 0-0 5, Owen Maddalon 1 2-2 4, Donnie Schubert 1 0-0 3, Nick Larson 1 0-0 2, Brady Koziara 0 2-2 2. Totals: 27 6-10 74.
LINCOLN PARK 89
Brandin Cummings 8 3-4 23, Mikey Crawford 10 2-5 23, Meleek Thomas 7 6-6 22, Dorian McGhee 4 1-4 9, Rhaki Lum 2 2-2 7, Vinnie DePaula 2 0-0 5. Totals: 33 14-21 89.
North Catholic 15 18 15 26 — 74
Lincoln Park 22 15 29 23 — 89
3-point goals: North Catholic 16 (Hurray 8, Rottmann 6, Schubert, Fredericks); Lincoln Park 9 (Cummings 4, Thomas 2, Crawford, Lum, DePaula)
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