Gorman: Humphries punctuates Aliquippa's perfect run
Chucky Humphries knows he is an Aliquippa anomaly, a talented athlete who plays only one sport for the Quips.
“Chucky, he's a basketball geek,” Aliquippa senior point guard Jassir Jordan said.
That isn't the only way Humphries stands out. He's 6-foot-6, looks even taller with his thick Afro and plays basketball like he's on a pogo stick.
“My motto on the court,” he said, “is if you're standing still, you're doing something wrong.”
Humphries looks like an inverted exclamation point, and his stat line put the punctuation on Aliquippa's 49-45 victory over Lincoln Park on Saturday afternoon for the WPIAL Class AA title.
He scored 22 points — making 6 of 9 field goals and 10 of 14 free throws — and had 18 rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
“Chuck is a college basketball player,” Aliquippa coach Nick Lackovich said of Humphries, who signed with Division II powerhouse West Liberty. “We expect him to do those things. I'd be more surprised if he didn't.”
Humphries, however, impacted the outcome in ways that don't show up in statistics. He challenged the shots of Lincoln Park star Nelly Cummings, drew fouls against 6-7 center Dermotti Welling and kept plays alive by altering shots and tipping rebounds to his teammates.
“I just say I'm out there to affect the game,” Humphries said. “I do as much as I can and do it at my best. People tell me to try to score 30 points and get seven dunks. I just want to win.”
It's no coincidence that Aliquippa (25-0) has won 54 of its past 55 games with Humphries in the starting lineup the past two seasons. The Quips became only the second team in WPIAL history to win back-to-back titles with perfect records.
Lackovich says we're witnessing the evolution of Humphries from a post into someone whose basketball IQ is soaring higher than his rim-swinging dunks.
Humphries is one of only two starters who doesn't play football, so he was the first to welcome Lackovich when the coach was hired three years ago. But Humphries had just experienced a 4-inch growth spurt and was still immature. Now, he's the first to the gym and last to leave.
“He's grown, and he's just scratching the surface,” Lackovich said. “His best days are ahead of him.”
Lackovich constantly harps on Humphries that if you do the right things, you get rewarded at the right times. He likens it to investing in a savings account.
Humphries might not act like he's listening but absorbs it like a sponge and uses his coach's expressions when Lackovich least expects it. That was evident in the post-game press conference.
“It's like a bank, Coach,” Humphries said. “You put your money in, and when it's time to cash out, cha-ching.”
Lincoln Park employed an unusual strategy in an attempt to stifle his production. The Leopards used 5-foot-10 guard Nick Aloi, their strongest player, to defend Humphries in hopes he would draw over-the-back calls to get Humphries in foul trouble.
“We tried to not let Chucky beat us,” Lincoln Park coach Mike Bariski said.
But that's easier said than done. After getting into first-quarter foul trouble in the WPIAL final, PIAA semifinals and state title game last year, Lackovich warned Humphries he wasn't doing much good sitting on the bench.
“Coming off last season, I made a promise to myself: No foul trouble,” Humphries said. “This was the first time I played in the second quarter of a championship game.”
Humphries scored seven of the Quips' first 15 points and eight of their final 10 in the second quarter, including a breakaway two-handed dunk. The Quips feed off his dunks, and this one energized Petersen Events Center.
“It gets everyone pumped up,” Jordan said. “We get so hyped. Once we get pumped up, it's very hard to stop us. You probably need two timeouts.”
Lincoln Park needed almost three quarters before anyone other than Cummings scored a field goal. By halftime, Humphries had 17 points, and the Quips led 30-14.
Humphries went quiet for a spell in the second half before blocking Cummings' shot with 2:01 left and then making 4 of 6 free throws in the final 1:57.
If that's not putting an exclamation point on his performance. Consider this: In two WPIAL title games at the Pete, Humphries has 31 points, 32 rebounds, four blocked shots and two dunks.
“I definitely won't take this for granted,” Humphries said. “Right now, I'm in the moment. It will be something I can look back on and take pride in it.”
And also in being Aliquippa's anomaly, the basketball geek who provides the punctuation on another perfect season. Chucky Humphries is cashing out.
Cha-ching.
Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
