Lincoln Park and Imani Christian may have repeated as WPIAL champions last week, but the two heavyweights have been eyeing an even bigger goal all season long.
“A championship is a championship,” Lincoln Park star Brandin Cummings said after a 66-51 win against Hampton in the WPIAL Class 4A final. “I feel like we were supposed to be here. We kind of knew all season that we were going to be here. We expected to win a championship.
“Personally, I think that we’re all in agreement that the main goal is a state championship. Of course we’re going to celebrate [last Thursday], but we’ve got another goal to achieve so we’re going to get right back at it.”
And if Lincoln Park or Imani Christian is to pull a PIAA championship repeat, they will join an elite club of great WPIAL teams.
A pair of WPIAL powers will begin chasing history Friday when the PIAA playoffs get underway. Lincoln Park (23-3) will host Montour (21-5) in a Class 4A first-round game, while Imani Christian (14-11) will take on Union-Rimersburg (13-11) in a Class 1A opener at Norwin.
Only eight boys teams from the WPIAL have ever won back-to-back state titles. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart did it in 2021-22, but prior to that the previous school to accomplish the feat was Blackhawk in 1995-96. There’s a chance that two more teams could join the club two weeks from now.
Imani Christian comes in as the favorite in Class 1A. The Saints have won eight of their past nine games (the only loss coming to Lincoln Park, 83-74) and are 11-0 against Class 1A teams, winning those contests by an average of 39 points. In a 78-49 win against Neighborhood Academy in the WPIAL final, the Saints forced 26 turnovers and shot 50% from the field. Senior guard Nate Brazil (18.1 points per game) is the leading scorer for a team that is eyeing another title despite its two all-state players from last season transferring to out-of-state schools.
“We’re completely locked in,” first-year Imani Christian coach Khayree Wilson said. “We had one of our best practices [Monday]. It was ‘Competition Monday.’ We were flying around. Someone from the school staff walked in and said how much harder our practices look than our games. We’re pretty dialed in and focused.”
Imani Christian beat Berlin Brothersvalley, 81-64, to win its first PIAA title last season. There’s a chance it could come down to those teams once again as the Mountaineers repeated as District 5 champions and are 24-2, their only losses coming to WPIAL teams Greensburg Central Catholic (72-64) and Uniontown (67-60). Greensburg C.C. was the WPIAL Class 2A runner-up and Uniontown a WPIAL Class 4A semifinalist.
Lincoln Park might be the defending Class 4A champion, but the Leopards aren’t considered the favorite this season. That title belongs to the team the Leopards beat in last year’s final, Philadelphia Catholic League power Neumann-Goretti. The Saints are 22-3 and ranked No. 20 in the country by USA Today. They also own wins against both Lincoln Park and Imani Christian. Neumann-Goretti beat Lincoln Park, 82-67, in a tournament in Erie on Jan. 6, this after Meleek Thomas’ floater in the closing seconds helped the Leopards beat the Saints, 62-58, in last year’s PIAA final.
Favorite or not, Lincoln Park is still uber-talented and it’s difficult to pick against a team that features a guard tandem like Thomas and Cummings. Thomas is considered one of the nation’s top juniors and Cummings is a senior and Pitt recruit. Both average 22 points a game. Lincoln Park, which is seeking its fourth PIAA title, has won 15 games in a row since the loss to Neumann-Goretti. Its only other losses were to teams from California and Oregon while playing in a tournament in Oregon back in December.
“We went out to Oregon and we had no visions of grandeur that we were going to go out there and go 4-0 and beat all these great teams,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. “We had good games. We had fun. That got us better. That got them together, made them closer. And they got hungrier. We are Darth Vader of high school basketball. That’s what we are. People give us their best shot, their Super Bowl. People come to watch. They come to either cheer for us or to see us lose.”
And if either Lincoln Park or Imani Christian can navigate the rest of their schedule without a loss, they will find a spot in history.
“For Imani to put its name amongst some of the legendary teams in Western Pennsylvania basketball would mean a tremendous amount,” said Wilson, a graduate of the school. “And you will continue to see that at Imani. I want people to see that this isn’t a one-year or two-year thing. Like whenever people say, ‘Did you see that great Fifth Avenue team from years ago?’ I want people 25 or 30 years from now saying, ‘Did you see that Imani Christian team from the 2020s?’”
Another final for Aliquippa?
Aliquippa reached both the PIAA football and basketball championship games during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, and another trip to Hershey later this month would give the Quips a PIAA double for a third consecutive school year.
The Quips can also become the first WPIAL team since Sto-Rox (2002-04) to reach the PIAA final three consecutive seasons. But after losing in the final the past two seasons (Class 3A in 2022 and Class 2A in 2023), the Class 2A Quips (21-5) hope to get back to the title game and make sure the third time’s a charm. The Quips have won 11 of their past 12 games, the only hiccup being a 50-45 loss to WPIAL Class 6A champion Upper St. Clair.
Aliquippa is one of only two WPIAL teams among the eight teams in its quadrant (Northgate is the other), but the Quips will open the tournament against a familiar foe when they host District 9 third-place finisher Otto-Eldred (25-2) in Saturday’s first round. The Quips hammered Otto-Eldred, 56-28, in last season’s semifinals before losing to Lancaster Mennonite, 60-44, in the championship. Aliquippa has won five PIAA titles overall, their previous being in 2016.
Players to watch
Thomas and Cummings headline a strong group of talented WPIAL players who hope to lead their teams to long PIAA runs. The District 7 contingent also includes Hampton senior guard Peter Kramer (Lehigh recruit), Moon senior guard Elijah Guillory (Youngstown State recruit) and Neighborhood Academy junior guard Courtney Wallace (Yale recruit).
Two other WPIAL juniors to keep an eye on are Montour 6-foot-11 center Ama Sow and Upper St. Clair 6-9 forward Tyler Robbins. Sow picked up an offer from Washington last week, while Robbins finished with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 5 blocked shots in leading Upper St. Clair past Baldwin, 64-41, for the WPIAL Class 6A title.
Archbishop Wood’s Jalil Bethea might be the best player in the state. A 6-4 senior guard, Bethea is a Miami recruit and the nation’s No. 7-ranked senior, according to Rivals. He’s averaging 23 points per game and is the school’s all-time leading scorer. The McDonald’s All-American is already projected as a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Bethea shared Philadelphia Catholic League MVP honors with Archbishop Ryan’s Thomas Sorber, a 6-9 senior center and Georgetown recruit who averages 18.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5 blocks per game.
Another top player is Imhotep Charter’s Ahmad Nowell, a 6-1 senior guard and Connecticut recruit. Nowell is averaging 25 points a game for the two-time defending Class 5A champion Panthers.
Defending champions
Reading (6A), Imhotep Charter (5A), Lincoln Park (4A), West Catholic (3A), Lancaster Mennonite (2A) and Imani Christian (1A) are the defending champions. All six are in the field again this season looking to defend their titles. West Catholic defeated Deer Lakes, 83-55, in last year’s final.
Brad is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at beverett@unionprogress.com.