skip navigation

PIAA 4A Boys Championship Preview: Neumann-Goretti vs. Lincoln Park

03/22/2023, 4:15pm EDT
By Joseph Santoliquito

Joseph Santoliquito (@JSantoliquito)

It still stings. Three weeks later the mark remains. No one from the Neumann-Goretti boys’ basketball team will openly admit it, but they carry a stealthy collective torch lit at the Palestra Monday night, February 27 when the Saints blew a seven-point lead in the last 35 seconds to lose to rival Roman Catholic in overtime in the Catholic League championship.

It’s a game the Saints say “we gave away,” missing five foul shots in the final minute.


Neumann-Goretti senior Sultan Adewale (above) and the Saints are going for their 10th PIAA championship. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

Neumann-Goretti has run out of giveaways.

Since then, the Saints have been in take-back mode.

On Thursday at 8 p.m. at Hershey’s Giant Center, Neumann-Goretti (26-3) will be playing for its 10th PIAA state championship since 2010 when the District 12 champion Saints take on District 7 No. 1-seed Lincoln Park (29-1). 

Under head coach Carl Arrigale, Neumann-Goretti has never lost a state championship game, winning eight-straight PIAA Class 3A state championships from 2010 to 2018 and one Class 4A in 2022 (it should be noted Neumann-Goretti did not compete in the 2020 or 2021 state playoffs due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

It’s something the Neumann-Goretti players are aware of.

It’s something the Lincoln Park Leopards are very aware of.

Lincoln Park, which carries a 17-game winning streak and beat Archbishop Wood, 72-64, in late-December, is a very talented team, featuring a pair of stellar 6-foot-3 guards: Pitt-bound junior Brandin Cummings, the young brother of Pitt guard Nelly Cummings, and sophomore guard Meleek Thomas, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Leopards’ 85-64 state semifinal win over Uniontown. Joining them will be 6-0 senior point guard DeAndre Moye, and a pair of two-sport stars, 6-5 junior forward Dontay Green, who’s back after suffering a Lisfranc injury last season, with 6-2 junior guard Dorian McGhee, 5-10 junior shooting guard Vinnie DePalma and 5-11 junior guard Rashan Russell in Lincoln Park’s top seven rotation.

The Leopards are also very well coached. Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski has his team moving well in transition and baffle teams with their back door plays. They defend well and have beaten their opponents by an average of 13.3 points a game in the state playoffs, averaging 79.5 points a game while surrendering an average of 66.25. 

In Neumann-Goretti’s four state playoff victories, the Saints have beaten each one of their opponents by double-figures, averaging 75.5 points a game and yielding just 51 points a game. The only team that scored over 50 against Neumann-Goretti was Bishop Shanahan in the Saints’ 74-64 state quarterfinal victory.


Baylor commit Robert Wright III (above) is one of the top guards in the state. (Photo: Mark Jordan/CoBL)

The Saints go six deep, though it’s a special six, starting with all-everything 6-foot junior Baylor-bound guard Robert Wright III, paired with 5-11 junior guard Khaafiq Myers, who appears healthy after twisting his ankle in the Catholic League championship, along with 6-1 senior Bruce Smith, 6-5 junior wing Amir Williams and 6-8 senior power forward Sultan Adewale, with 6-foot freshman guard Stephon Ashley-Wright coming off the bench.

Lincoln Park is the first charter school in the Pittsburgh area. It is also the first Pittsburgh-area charter school basketball team that has won a state championship.

“Nobody is fooling anyone by saying Pittsburgh basketball is comparable to Philadelphia basketball, there just isn’t, I get that and understand that,” said Bariski, who has won two state championships at Lincoln Park, in 2014 and 2019. “Every day they are playing battles, so we try and make our schedule as hard as we can. But our guys also get the experience from playing a high level of AAU. We played in some classics that brought some teams in from Philly, we played a team from Buffalo, a team from Chicago to have our eyes sideways on this goal of playing in the state championship. Everyone out here thought that Neumann-Goretti would get here.

“Our confidence is very high, but I never looked at one tape of Neumann-Goretti until we got by Uniontown. We played Neumann-Goretti once before and they beat the snot out of us [89-58 in 2017]. We understand how they play and who they are. They would come out here in the Pittsburgh area and beat 99.9 percent of the teams here. They are that good. [But] we are very good. We are playing very well. We are not a team that backs down from any challenge. We like our chances. Scoring the basketball is our key here. A high score benefits us.

“We know that they have never lost a state championship. I give coach Arrigale a ton of credit. I respect the hell out of coach Arrigale. Our problem is going to be dealing with their size. The other thing is you cannot go north-to-south, or south-to-north against them. They jump all over that. If we can limit their transition game, I think we can be better off. The number one thing is rebounding the basketball.”

Archbishop Wood coach John Mosco has a great familiarity with both Lincoln Park and, obviously, Neumann-Goretti, having coached under Arrigale for 16 seasons before taking over the Wood job in 2013. The Vikings beat the Saints, 90-79, in mid-January.

“Lincoln Park hasn’t played the kind of schedule that Neumann-Goretti has,” Mosco said. “They’re good. Lincoln Park plays well with each other, but their guards are not as good as Carl’s guards. Everyone on Lincoln Park knows their roles, they’ve been playing together for a while. But I think Neumann-Goretti has more pieces. Neumann is a little deeper. 

“I like Carl and Neumann’s chances, because Lincoln Park has no one to guard Sultan. If Sultan gets involved, he will be a crucial factor. It will not be a boring game. Lincoln Park’s guards are little bigger than Neumann’s guards. Neumann getting inside will determine this game. It is going to be a great game. Neumann is the deeper team. It will be up-and-down and Lincoln Park will play with Neumann, they will not hold the ball. But if I had to pick, I would say Neumann is a three-to four-point favorite.”

Joseph Santoliquito is an award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who began writing for CoBL in 2021 and is the president of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be followed on Twitter here.


D-I Coverage:

HS Coverage:

Small-College News:

Tag(s): Home  High School  Joseph Santoliquito  Boys HS  Catholic League (B)  Neumann-Goretti