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PIAA 6A: Corbett's big night helps Lincoln top Neshaminy

03/17/2018, 8:00pm EDT
By Owen McCue

Lincoln's Tyree Corbett scored 29 points to go along with 20 rebounds in Lincoln's win on Saturday. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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Following a PIAA Class 6A victory against Neshaminy on Saturday afternoon, the Abraham Lincoln High School Rail Splitters and their fans gathered around center court at Archbishop Ryan High School.

“We not goin’ home! We not goin’ home! We not goin’ home!” they shouted as they jumped up and down, celebrating a clinched berth in the state semifinals.

The phrase has been a mantra for Lincoln. Even after defeating Roman Catholic, the Philadelphia Catholic League champions, to win the District 12 championship, the Rail Splitters felt there was doubt surrounding their legitimacy as contenders to make a state tournament run.

They topped Upper Darby to win the second state game in school history, then Hempfield to advance farther than any other Lincoln team before them. But even going against a Neshaminy team that is a bit of an underdog story of its own, the Rail Splitters felt they were being overlooked.

However, Lincoln delivered once again on Saturday, taking down Neshaminy 77-70 to advance to the PIAA Class 6A semifinals, where they will play Hazelton on Tuesday.

“It’s just for everybody that’s just been doubting us ever since that Roman game,” senior forward Tyree Corbett said. “They’ve been saying it was luck and all that. ‘We’re not going home.’ We just showed everybody that we don’t got no type of luck.  We’re going to win every game, we’re going to play hard. We’re not going home. If we do go home, we go home with a fight.

Neshaminy and Lincoln both entered Saturday’s game coming off double overtime victories. Neshaminy senior Chris Arcidiacono guided his team past Lower Merion with 51 points, while Lincoln snuck past Hempfield in two extra periods.

Guided by eight points and five rebounds from Corbett, Lincoln led 17-15 at the end of the first quarter. He did not slow down after the first, finishing with 29 points to go along with 20 rebounds. Corbett, a 6-foot-6 forward, said he has a seven-foot wingspan, which helps him attacking the offensive glass.

“I just came in and knew I was going to grab every rebound," he said. "If a shot goes up and it’s off, it’s my rebound. That’s the mentality I came with. Yesterday, I was working on grabbing rebounds and going back up strong.”

While Lincoln got up by as many as eight points in the half, Arcidiacono helped Neshaminy get back into the game with 17 first half points. A three at the end of the first half by senior forward Charles Dominick sent Neshaminy into the break up 32-29.

Dominick scored nine points in the first and exploded for 14 more in the second half to finish with a career high 23 points on seven 3-point shots. He finished second on the team in scoring behind Arcidiacono’s 35 points.

“We know what we’re going to get out of Chris,” Neshaminy head coach Mark Tingle said. “Charles, he shot the ball well all year, but he went off.”

Neshaminy got an extra cushion with two free throws from Arcidiacono after a technical on Lincoln for dunking at halftime. The Neshaminy lead grew to seven less than a minute into the second half.

Guided by nine straight points from Corbett, Lincoln cut the lead to one. A three by junior guard Emeul Charleston, one of three on the day, gave the Rail Splitters their first lead of the second half with a little less than five minutes left in the third quarter.

The next few minutes of play featured three ties and four lead changes before a 7-0 run, capped by a three from senior Sanhei Day, put Lincoln up 57-50 at the end of three. From that point, Neshaminy played catch up the rest of the contest. Lincoln went up by 11 before the midway point of the fourth.

Though Neshaminy pulled within four, 67-63, with 2:41 left, Lincoln forced three turnovers on Neshaminy’s next three possessions to seal the win. 

“Defense has been winning these games for us,” Lincoln senior guard Khalif Meares said. “We focus on defense a lot in practice, so we don’t make mental mistakes.”

Along with Corbett's big night, the Rail Splitters got 13 points from senior guard Shakeir Morrison and nine from both Charleston and Meares.

Lincoln won the first state playoff came in school history last season before a loss to Carlisle in the second round. After winning the first district title in school history just a few weeks ago, the Rail Splitters have now set a new standard in states for the program.

Just a month ago, the Rail Splitters bowed out in the quarterfinal round of the Public League quarterfinals with an 89-77 loss to Constitution. Those who watched on Saturday wouldn’t have even recognized that team.

“The progression has been crazy,” Lincoln coach Al Brown said. “Each game I feel like we’re getting better and better. All season the coaching staff’s been talking amongst each other saying how we haven’t reached our roof yet. We still had a lot of growing to do as a team and as a family on the court…Now it’s just coming together.”


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