By Michael Boytim

mboytim@altoonamirror.com

MIDLAND — Central needed to play a nearly perfect game to knock off traditional WPIAL boys basketball powerhouse Lincoln Park Tuesday night, and some early missed shots came back to haunt the Scarlet Dragons in an 86-67 loss.

Central trailed by just three early in the second quarter but had missed four wide open layups in the first quarter.

“We left a lot of points out there that you have to have against a team like this,” Central coach Paul Frederick said. “You almost have to make everything that’s close, and we didn’t. We got some great looks against their pressure, but you have to make those and we certainly missed a few.”

Lincoln Park, led by Brandin Cummings’ 26 points, began to pull away and went ahead by as many as 19 in the second quarter.

The Scarlet Dragons tried so hard to get back into the game and got as far back into the game as down by nine points, but in the end, it didn’t matter against the constant pressure of Lincoln Park.

“We stopped protecting the basket and were playing just man-to-man, and that’s just not us,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said. “We just had to get back to double teaming and speeding the other team up, and after that I was happy with how we played. Central didn’t come here to lie down. They played hard.”

L.A. Pratt added 25 points, and Meleek Thomas scored 23 points for the Leopards, who will play Fairview on Friday in the next round of the PIAA Class 4A playoffs.

“Their guards are so quick, and if you give them too much space, they will hurt you,” Frederick said. “They did that late in the second half. They played really well.”

Central was down just 54-44 late in the third quarter before Lincoln Park went on a 14-4 run to put the game away.

“We had a heck of a season,” Frederick said. “It’s never fun to lose your last one, but we’ll be able to look back on this year and feel good about the work we put in. We’ll try to get back to this spot next year. It won’t be easy.”

Eli Lingenfelter scored a game-high 21 points for the Scarlet Dragons, who finished 19-7.

Seth Bean added 12 points, Tyrell Rolle and Rylan Daugherty each scored 11 points and Hunter Smith scored 10 points.

Rolle was Central’s only senior starter.

“We’ll miss Tyrell,” Frederick said. “He played his best ball at the end of the year. We love him. He’s been a big part of our program.”

The Scarlet Dragons, playing in their first year in the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference, qualified for the LHAC playoffs and entered the District 6 Class 4A playoffs as the top seed before falling in the championship game to Penn Cambria.

“We grew together so much as a team,” Rolle said. “We played some of our best games against the best competition. This was probably one of the best teams we played, and we hung in there.”

CENTRAL (67): Lingenfelter 9 0-0 21, Smith 5 0-0 10, Rolle 5 0-0 11, Bean 5 2-2 12, Daugherty 5 0-0 11, Muthler 1 0-0 2, Rhule 0 0-0 0, Butler 0 0-0 0, Dunn 0 0-0 0, Albright 0 0-0 0. Totals — 30 2-2 67.

LINCOLN PARK (86): Moye 0 0-0 0, Pratt 10 4-6 25, Thomas 9 3-3 23, Cummings 11 2-2 26, Green 2 1-4 5, McGhee 3 1-7 7, DePaula 0 0-0 0, Robinson 0 0-0 0, Russell 0 0-0 0, Milkovich 0 0-0 0. Totals — 35 11-22 86.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Central 11 19 18 19 — 67

Lincoln Park 17 26 25 18 — 86

3-point goals: Central 5 (Lingenfelter 3, Rolle, Daugherty); Lincoln Park 5 (Thomas 2, Cummings 2, Pratt).

Officials: Carl Grinage, Jake Miller, Shane Snyder.

Records: Central (19-7); Lincoln Park (18-7)