Early stumbles cost Washington in PIAA quarters
Matt Popeck
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter Washington senior Matt Popeck congratulates Lincoln Park's Evan Brown at the conclusion of the Prexies' 70 to 58 loss in the PIAA playoff game at Baldwin High School on March 18. Popeck was Washington's leading scorer with 27 points.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter Washington's Isaiah Robinson powers between two Lincoln Park defenders for a layup in the first quarter of the PIAA playoff game at Baldwin High School on March 18. Robertson finished the game with 16 of Washington's points in the 70 to 58 loss.
Washington’s Isaiah Robinson drives to the basket Saturday during a PIAA playoff game against Lincoln Park at Baldwin High School. Robinson scored 16 points for the Prexies.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter Washington's Matt Popeck is met by Lincoln Park defense as he works to bring the ball downcourt in the PIAA playoff game at Baldwin on march 18. Popeck scored a team-leading 27 points in the 70 to 58 loss.
Mark Marietta/Observer-Reporter Washington's Jacob Swartz splits the Lincoln Park defense and scores in the PIAA playoff game on March 18 at Baldwin High School. The Prexies lost to Lincoln Park 70 to 58.
BALDWIN – You could see it coming, slowly and steadily, basket by basket. But the Washington High School boys basketball team was making its uphill climb against a team that had spent the last three months repelling similar challenges by talented opponents.
For Washington, the task seemed huge. The Prexies trailed by 24 points in the third quarter to WPIAL runner-up Lincoln Park, were overwhelmed by a barrage of three-point shots, beset by turnovers and riddled with foul trouble. However, this Washington team, though offensively challenged, is capable of a power surge that can overwhelm opponents, or at least wear them down. That is what began happening midway through the third quarter.
Washington’s full-court press and relentless work on the offensive boards turned the tide and the Prexies whittled the deficit to single digits by early in the fourth quarter. The game had the feel of another of those amazing Washington comebacks that are such a part of the Prexies’ sports tradition.
Such comebacks, however, require plenty of energy, and the Prexies expended almost all of their allotment. As Lincoln Park’s Nelly Cummings gave the Leopards a lifeline in the form of nine fourth-quarter points, Washington’s comeback fell short.
Cummings scored 23 points and Lincoln Park fought off Washington’s second-half charge for a 70-58 victory in the PIAA Class AAA quarterfinals Saturday afternoon at Baldwin High School.
“We played hard enough, just not well enough,” Washington coach Ron Faust explained.
For the second consecutive year, the Prexies (22-6) had their season end in the state playoffs against Lincoln Park (24-5), a performing arts charter school located in Midland.
Lincoln Park dominated the first half, building a 39-23 lead. The Leopards led 15-11 after one quarter and then used a trapping three-quarters-court press to double up Washington, 24-12, in the second quarter.
The Prexies had 10 first-half turnovers and did not attempt a free throw. Lincoln Park, meanwhile, attempted 13 free throws. The Prexies’ Tariq Wilson had four first-half fouls and Isaiah Robinson, who scored 16 points, drew two early fouls and went to the bench. He returned in the second quarter, only to quickly pick up his third foul.
“When we talked at halftime, we said that (Lincoln Park) had somehow stolen our script,” Faust said. “They were going to the basket and getting on the foul line and using their possessions. We were going to the offensive end and wasting ours, or not getting there at all.”
Three of Lincoln Park’s seven three-pointers came in the first half of the third quarter as it pushed the lead to 24 points.
“They played the same zone defense against us last year. When they moved it, they left holes in it,” said Lincoln Park guard Evan Brown, who had 16 points and three three-pointers.
Before things got totally out of hand, the Prexies turned up their defensive pressure and senior guard Matt Popeck got hot. Popeck, who ended his career as Washington’s all-time scoring leader, tossed in 13 of his 27 points in the third quarter. Two baskets by Robinson and a Popeck three-pointer pulled Wash High to within 53-40 and swung the momentum. By the end of the quarter, Lincoln Park’s lead had been cut to 56-46, and a power move and basket by Jacob Swartz to open the fourth quarter made it an eight-point game.
The Prexies had four shots in a possession that could have trimmed the gap to six, but they missed all four. Wash High also missed numerous shots from point-blank range in the second half that cut short its comeback.
“We just ran out of gas,” Faust said. “We didn’t have any legs left at all. … We couldn’t get over the hump.”
Cummings, a Bowling Green recruit who began the day No. 8 on the WPIAL’s all-time scoring list, provided Lincoln Park with enough points down the stretch to send the Leopards to the semifinals.
“To get to this point, 22 wins and playing on March 18 is a pretty good sign for a program,” Faust said. “The key to the second half was we couldn’t draw a charge or get the extra foul on Cummings, to take him out of the game, because he’s their go-to man.”