By Andrew Koob
New Castle News

For nine minutes, the Neshannock High boys basketball team couldn't be stopped.

Taking an 11-point advantage early in the second quarter against visiting Lincoln Park, the Lancers looked to be on their way to the top of the WPIAL Section 1-AA standings.

That momentum, however, did not last through the entire game, as the Lancers dropped a 73-56 decision to the Leopards on Friday night in a battle for the top spot in the section.

"We know they’re talented and we knew there would be runs," Neshannock coach John Corey said. "That’s what the game is, you have to try to contain them and they’re good, they’re as advertised. For us to jump out with a big lead, it would have been nice to have a little bit more effort in that run that they made.”

Neshannock (4-1 section, 9-3 overall) jumped out to the early advantage on the backs of Jake Rylott and Ethan Moose, who combined to score 13 of the Lancers 16 first-quarter points.

Moose led all scorers with 26 points, while Lincoln Park's Nelly Cummings and former Ellwood City player Nick Aloi each contributed 23.

Jason Swope and Frank Fraschetti each knocked in a three to open the second quarter to take a 22-11 advantage as Lincoln Park struggled to find its offensive footing.

The Leopards (6-0, 10-2) finally found it after a timeout following Fraschetti's trey, going on a 15-4 run to tie the game. They trailed by just one point at the half.

“It’s ebbs and flows. At the beginning of the game, our assistants wanted to take a timeout and I had to tell them not to worry, we’ll be fine," Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. "We’ll let them get their rush in, which I knew they would do. What we wanted to do is get it out of them. So when they got all of their adrenaline out, we got a timeout when we were down 11.

"You have to bide your time when you pull that rug out from their flow. I think we had a good timeout and, when we came back in, we changed the defense to double-team and, when we did that, it made all the difference.”

That pressure, along with a struggle to keep the Leopards off the glass, suffocated any opportunities for the Lancers to create a comeback. Overall, Neshannock turned the ball over 18 times and allowed 18 offensive rebounds.

“There’s one area that we lost tonight and it was on the boards," Corey said. "They had 18 offensive boards and probably converted 12 of them. We just tried to stop the momentum but, overall, we got killed on the glass tonight. Other than that, I don’t think there’s any one thing that hurt us on the defensive end.

The Leopards outscored Neshannock 21-10 in the third quarter, which featured a 9-1 run in Lincoln Park's favor to push the lead to 10. The Lancers couldn't recover from the deficit, as the Leopards' lead ballooned to 20 points near the end of the final whistle.

“You have to go out and play 16 more minutes, we really focused on the first three minutes of the third quarter, coming out and playing well," Corey said. "I know they went on another little run, but their pressure in the second half was obviously a lot better than in the first half.

“Against a good team like Lincoln Park, you can’t give up 18 offensive rebounds and commit 18 turnovers."

(Email: AKoob@ncnewsonline.com)