Lincoln Park gets past Union
Lincoln Park (72) Vs. Union (57)
Jan 16, 2013
By Joe Sager
New Castle News

MIDLAND — Tall, deep and talented.

Union High found out Lincoln Park possessed all three of those traits last night. The Leopards put them on display in a 72-57 in a WPIAL Section 1-A boys basketball home victory.

Of those, height was the deciding factor against the Scotties. Lincoln Park’s Elijah Minnie (6-foot-9), Ryan Skovranko (6-5), Jaylin Cottrill (6-5) and Maverick Rowan (6-5) used their height advantage to help edge Union.

While Minnie (25 points) and Rowan (11) did some damage on the offensive end, it was the Leopards’ size on defense that hurt the Scotties, especially when it came to any offensive second chances.

Rowan, just a freshman, is a son of former Beaver Falls High star Ron Rowan.

“There’s no doubt it does. Sometimes, (the height) even limits the first chances,” Union coach Dave Smialowski said. “You’re driving in and you have 6-9 and 6-5 underneath the hoop. That’s a lot different than 6-foot and 6-2. It does alter some things. I told the kids to challenge them and they did. We made a few and, obviously, they had some blocks, too.

“It was like a heavyweight bout; they took our punches and we took their punches. The thing is, we had it down to five and we just couldn’t get over that hump. They are a good team, there’s no doubt about it, but that’s what the pressure (defense) can do to you,” he continued. “When that happens, you have to take a deep breath and run the offense and try not to get into the craziness that they’re trying to get it into. We just let them have one or two more runs than we did.

“That’s what good teams do to you. Their pressure can wear you down. I don’t think it wore us down, though. The kids fought from the beginning to the end. I told the kids that I am proud of them and we’ll have something for them at our place.”

Union (3-1 section, 11-2 overall) and Lincoln Park (4-0, 9-4) went after each other in the first as the Leopards clung to a 17-16 lead at the buzzer.

In the second, Lincoln Park, No. 3 in the Harrisburg Patriot-News PIAA Class A rankings, started to pull away from the Scotties, who saw their 11-game winning streak snapped.

Union’s Markel Peace scored seven of his team-high 18 points in the second to limit the damage to a 39-30 halftime deficit.

“They are very, very talented. They have five guys that play together; they shoot the ball, get up and down the floor and they defend. So, when you have those kinds of combinations, you’re going to be pretty good and their record showed it. That’s why they were 11-1 coming into the game,” Lincoln Park coach Mark Javens said.

“We did some things defensively just to slow them down. We knew they could get up and down the floor. We tried some things, plus we’re long in our presence, whether it’s half court or full court. Peace shot some big 3s and got to the rim in the first half. He had a big first half. So, we shadowed him in the second half.”

With the Leopards defense targeting Peace, Union rallied for an 8-2 run to start the third quarter thanks to three Benjamin Young buckets and a Tre Major hoop. That spurt trimmed the Scotties’ deficit to 41-38 with 5:34 left in the quarter.

However, Lincoln Park turned up its defensive pressure, produced turnovers and capitalized on them for a 14-2 spree to close the third with a 54-40 edge.

Union got within 10 points, 60-50, with 5:27 to play, but the Scotties’ long-range shots started to miss and the Leopards took the 15-point win.

The two squads meet again Feb. 5 at Union. Javens doesn’t believe it will be the last time they face each other this season, either.

“I told my guys that we’ll see Union again at their place and I am sure we’ll probably see them down the road, too,” he said.
Nightly Roundup
Game Scoreboard
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT SCORE
Lincoln Park 17 22 15 18 0 72
Union 16 14 10 17 0 57
Box Scores
UNION (57)
Markel Peace 6 4-7 18
Joe Salmen 4 3-4 13
Tre Major 3 1-1 7
Drew Robinson 0 0-0 0
Benjamin Young 7 2-2 17
Wayne Seamans 1 0-0 2
John Hilke 0 0-0 0
Clifford Clark 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 21 10-14 57.

LINCOLN PARK (72)
Maverick Rowan 5 0-0 11
Antonio Kellum 4 5-6 11
Ryan Skovranko 4 0-0 8
Elijah Minnie 10 3-4 25
Jaylin Cottrill 1 2-3 4
Nate Loedding 2 0-0 5
John Tomassetti 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 28 11-15 72.

UNION 16 14 10 17 – 57
L. PARK 17 22 15 18 – 72
3-point goals – Union 5 (Peace 2, Salmen 2, Young 1), Lincoln Park 5 (Minnie 2, Rowan 1, Kellum 1, Loedding 1)
JV score: Union 47, Lincoln Park 30. High scorer: U – Jacob Jendrysik 16, Cornell Charles 12.
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