Lincoln Park moves to 3-0 on the season as they took down Moon 61-53 in a hard-fought game that was close the entire way.
Josh Pratt led the way in this one, finishing with 25 points. Jackson Bauman paced Moon in the loss with a game-high 26 points.
These are two polar opposite teams in terms of their playstyle. Lincoln Park plays fast and attempts to score as much as possible, while Moon plays a much more methodical brand of basketball and likes to keep the score low. One similarity though is the star player for each team, as they are both led by college bound senior guards. Lincoln Park is led by Columbia commit, Josh Pratt, while Moon is led by Rio Grande commit, Jackson Bauman.
Moon jumped out to a 4-0 lead in this one after making a free throw and Jackson Bauman converting on the and-1, but Josh Pratt answered in a hurry with a bucket on the drive down the right lane and a three from the right corner. His brother, sophomore Miah Pratt, got in on the action with a steal and score early.
Jackson Bauman continued to stay aggressive and went on a 7-0 run by himself to put Moon up 11-7 late in the first. The battle of brothers continued as junior, Brody Bauman, added to the run with an and-1 of his own as Moon stretched their lead to 14-7.
Josh Pratt stopped the bleeding when he pulled up for 3 from the left wing, and after the first quarter, Moon was leading 14-10 with all but 1 point being scored by either the Bauman or Pratt brothers.
Caden Kopay converted yet another and-1 for Moon as they continued to play well early. Lincoln Park switched things up in the second quarter by inserting junior big man, Taymeir Holmes, into the lineup who scored on Lincoln Park’s second possession of the quarter. Just a couple trips later, Holmes was fouled on the put back attempt, making his 6’8” presence felt.
Scoring in the quarter slowed a bit as Lincoln Park played a lot of isolation ball, but that changed when Josh Pratt drove and kicked to Holmes under the basket for the easy two. Senior guard, AJ Buford scored on the drive for Moon, but freshman, Amaizen Straughters, answered with a baseline drive for Lincoln Park. With Moon up 25-18 late in the half, Lincoln Park worked the clock to get the last shot and Miah Pratt drained a pullup three as time expired to cut the lead to 25-21 at the half.
Josh Pratt went to work right away in the third quarter with a turnaround jumper in the lane to give him 12 points on the night. Lincoln Park sophomore, Malcolm Frye, nailed a 3 to put Lincoln Park back in front for the first time since very early in the game. Jackson Bauman answered with a bucket, but Josh Pratt fired back with a three ball to give him 16 points.
Amaizen Straughters joined the and-1 party with a very strong finish at the cup to give Lincoln Park a 32-27 lead. The Leopards were playing with much better intensity to start the half and it was paying off early in the third. Josh Pratt continued to cook, hitting another pull-up jumper, as the division one commit was starting to show why he’s the highest rated guard in Western PA.
Kopay hit a much-needed floater for Moon to end the scoring drought, and Jackson Bauman followed it up by lacing the three and getting the foul. He’d go on to convert the 4-point play and Moon was right back in this thing, trailing 34-33.
Josh Pratt and Jackson Bauman traded and-1s on the next two possessions as the two stars continued to shoulder the scoring load for their teams. Straughters scored again on another tough up and under finish and Josh Pratt drained another three to give him 23 points in the game, including 13 in the third.
Jackson Bauman scored on the runout off the Lincoln Park turnover and tied the game at 41. Lincoln scored one more time to end the quarter up 43-41. Josh Pratt led all scorers with 23, with Jackson Bauman not far behind at 20.
Josh Pratt started the fourth with a steal and a dunk to get Lincoln Park going in the final frame. Straughters hit a three ball from the left corner and Miah Pratt got the floater to go to give Lincoln Park a 9-point 50-41 lead, their biggest of the game.
The Moon Tigers caught a huge break midway through the quarter when Josh Pratt picked up his fourth foul and was subbed out. Jackson Bauman took full advantage and scored right away with Pratt on the bench, but Miah Pratt answered back with an and-1 to make it 53-43 in favor of the Leopards.
Straughters got the reverse layup to go to push the lead to 12 and give him 13 points in the game. He’s one of the best freshmen in the entire WPIAL and he showed it tonight in what was a breakout game for him.
With Josh Pratt on the bench in foul trouble, Miah Pratt and Amaizen Straughters really stepped up in a critical time for Lincoln Park. After the game, Head Coach Mike Bariski praised his young guys saying, “They’re young kids, a sophomore and a freshman. We knew they could play in the big moments. They had some nerves at the beginning, as this is a tough place to play, but they stepped up”.
But Moon wasn’t done yet, as Head Coach Gino Palmosina called for the full-court press late in the game. The constant pressure was really getting to Lincoln Park, forcing turnovers on multiple possessions.
Brody Bauman scored off the turnover, Buford scored, and then Jackson Bauman got the steal and the score to cut the deficit to just 4 points.
Despite the massive effort and comeback attempt, Moon would fall short in this one as Lincoln Park hit their free throws down the stretch to ice the game. Lincoln Park got the win at Moon by a final score of 61-53. Josh Pratt led the way for the Leopards with 25. Jackson Bauman had a game-high 26 in the loss.
Pratt spoke on his 13-point third quarter saying, “All glory to god. I couldn’t do it without him. I started the quarter with a jump shot and it all started clicking from there”. Pratt went on to echo the sentiments of his coach and spoke highly of his young teammates saying, “They played amazing. I’ve told them all year that I have the most confidence in both of them. I’m preaching to them every day that we’re going to need them at the end of the season and we’re going to need them in games like this. I tell them to stay ready because the ball is going to come to them”.
Lincoln Park will face off against Montour on Friday in our KDKA Radio Game of the Week and Moon is off until the weekend when they take on Franklin Regional on Saturday in the Shootout at La Roche University.