Lincoln Park and Imani Christian Retain State Championships in Mercy Rule Games: Kehler on Hoops
Written by: Dell Jackson on March 22, 2024
Lincoln Park and Imani Christian Retain State Championships in Mercy Rule Games: Kehler on Hoops
Article by David Kehler
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter and Imani Christian Academy successfully defended PIAA state championships on Thursday in Hershey in the first of three days of title contests. Lincoln Park defeated Archbishop Carroll 80 to 50 for the Class 4A championship, and Imani Christian defeated Berlin Brothersvalley 79 to 52 for the Class 1A championship. In both games, the mercy rule was triggered in the third quarter. In both games, the winners had big scoring runs early in the game to take insurmountable leads. Both winners played stifling defense, and both winners played very uptempo when they had the ball.
Lincoln Park/Archbishop Carroll
District 7 champion Lincoln Park never trailed of the Philadelphia Catholic League. There were two ties early in the contest, but Carroll was never really in the game. With a team comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores, Carroll made a remarkable run in the PIAA tournament to get to the title game, but they were outgunned by Lincoln Park. When they had the ball, Lincoln Park rarely missed a shot. For the game, they were a sensational 30 of 45 from the field and a remarkable 10 of 16 from beyond the arc. Very unselfish and cohesive Lincoln Park had 16 assists in the contest.
The game was decided in the first quarter on a 16 to 0 Lincoln Park run, consisting of a fast break layup by 6’ 4” senior Brandin Cummings, a free throw by 6’ 5” senior Dontay Green, a jumper by 6’ 2” junior Rhaki Lum, a jumper by 6’ 4” junior Meleek Thomas, a fast break layup by Cummings, a free throw by Green, another fast break layup by Cummings, and a drive by Thomas. That Lincoln Park scoring run took a bit less than five minutes. Note that four Lincoln Park players scored during the run, a testament to the squad’s unselfishness. The run boosted a 9 to 7 Lincoln Park margin to a commanding 25 to 7 advantage, and Carroll never recovered.
In the second quarter, with Lincoln Park up 36 to 20, Lincoln Park launched a 12 to 0 run. The mercy rule was triggered by Lincoln Park’s first hoop of the third quarter.
According to the official stats, Lincoln Park had a 29 to 16 rebounding advantage. Turnovers were about even. Lincoln Park was 10 of 14 from the free throw line, and Carroll was six of 11. Lincoln Park made 10 3-pointers, and Carroll scored four times from beyond the arc. Lincoln Park’s Cummings, who is a Pitt recruit, was seven of eight on 3-point attempts, and he had a tremendous game. His teammate, Thomas, scored 16 points and had 14 rebounds.
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter scoring: Brandin Cummings 37, Meleek Thomas 16, Mikey Crawford 15, Rhaki Lum 6, Dontay Green 4, and Dorian McGhee 2.
Archbishop Carroll scoring: Luca Foster 12, Ian Williams 12, Munir Greig 10, Nasir Ralls 7, Darrell Davis 4, Mason Murawski 3, and Drew Corrao 2.
Archbishop Carroll 10 12 12 16 – 50
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter 25 26 13 16 – 80
Brandin Cummings. He did make the three! pic.twitter.com/OQxphtg7Ru
— LLhoops (@LLhoops) March 22, 2024
Imani Christian/Berlin Brothersvalley
The Class 1A title game was a rematch of last season’s 1A championship tilt. Last season, Imani Christian topped Berlin Brothersvalley 81 to 64 for the championship. On Thursday afternoon, the rematch was less competitive.
However, Berlin did get off to a a good start, scoring first. The game was tied four times in the early going at 2, 4, 7, and 11.
By the second quarter, it was obvious that Imani’s swarming defense was causing Berlin a great deal of trouble. Imani was much quicker than Berlin, and that quickness allowed Imani to double team and triple team the ball on possession after possession. While Berlin has several fine outside shooters, they found it difficult to get the space needed to launch effective shots. Berlin had severe ball security issues and repeatedly committed turnovers. Berlin also tried to run with Imani, but that didn’t work well. Still, gritty and cohesive Berlin was able to keep it close well into the second frame. With Imani up 20 to 16, the winners launched a devastating 19 to 0 run over a 5:20 span of time. The run consisted of a layup by 6’ senior Nate Brazil, a 3-pointer by Brazil, a fast break layup by Brazil, a fast break layup by 5’ 11” junior R.J. Sledge, a 3-pointer by Sledge, a fast break layup by Tristen Brown, a jumper by Sledge, and a 3-pointer by 6’ 3” senior Kylan Holmes. Of course, having surrendered such an overwhelming run, Berlin had no chance of winning, but they were game to the end.
According to the official statistics, Berlin had a 35 to 29 advantage on the boards. However, Berlin had a whopping 26 turnovers in the game to just eight miscues by Imani. Imani was five of nine from the stripe, while Berlin was seven of 17. Imani made eight 3-pointers, and Berlin scored seven times from beyond the arc.
Imani Christian Academy scoring: R.J. Sledge 22, Nate Brazil 18, Tristen Brown 9, Kylan Holmes 7, Avery Wesley 7, Dayshawn Burnett 6, Markus Williams 5, David Compton 3, and Braylon Green 2.
Berlin Brothersvalley scoring: Craig Jarvis 18, Mckelvey Foor 16, Pace Prosser 15, Hayden Hutzell 2, and Joseph Richardson 1.
Berlin Brothersvalley 12 7 12 21 – 52
Imani Christian Academy 20 21 28 10 – 79
RJ Sledge. Imani pic.twitter.com/PHtbeb4lkd
— LLhoops (@LLhoops) March 21, 2024
These two games illustrate the importance of a team needing strategies to blunt the momentum of an opponent’s scoring runs. That might involve such things as taking time outs, slowing the pace on offensive possessions, spreading the floor to minimize double teams, or running some set plays to change the flow of the contest.
On Twitter: @david_kehler
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