Few may be there to see it, but Aquinas Academy star Vinnie Cugini will take aim at WPIAL history Tuesday

For those chasing tickets to watch Vinnie Cugini chase history Tuesday, the athletic director at the school hosting the game has some advice.

“Doors open at 4:15. Get there early.”

A 30-year-old record could be broken Tuesday when Cugini and Aquinas Academy travel to Neighborhood Academy for a key section game. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. Cugini, a senior guard who is averaging 45.6 points a game, needs 31 to break the WPIAL’s all-time career scoring mark held by Valley great Tom Pipkins (2,838 points). Pipkins has held the record since 1993.

If history happens, there won’t be many there to see it. That’s because the gym (A.J. Palumbo Gymnasium) at Neighborhood Academy, located in Stanton Heights, is tiny. Athletic director Gary Shawley said attendance will be capped at 350, a number that includes tickets that are being set aside for some affiliated with the programs and schools. Due to what he expects to be a large demand for tickets, Aquinas Academy athletic director Tom Kayda said he asked Neighborhood Academy to have the game moved to a larger site, but Neighborhood Academy declined.

“No way,” said Neighborhood Academy second-year coach Jordan Marks, whose program is in its third season competing in the WPIAL. “In Single-A, there are not a lot of teams that want to play you at your place. They know you have some talent, so you don’t play many big home games. If you have a chance to bring people to your building that haven’t been there before, you can’t pass up that opportunity for the kids. We’re putting the school on the map.”

Shawley asked Kayda to provide him with a list of Aquinas Academy fans planning to attend the game, including Cugini’s family (there’s typically at least a dozen of them there during most Aquinas games), families of other players, administrators and some students. Kayda said the list includes about 60 people, and Shawley said those folks will be accommodated. 

After that, it’s first come, first served.

“Get there early,” Shawley said. “There will be a security guard out front with a clicker. Once we get to 350, that’s it.”

The 5 p.m. start time is nothing new for Neighborhood Academy. The Bulldogs typically play early home games as opposed to the standard 7 or 7:30 p.m.

It became increasingly more likely last week that Cugini would shoot for the record Tuesday. He was 87 points away prior to last Friday’s game against Summit Academy. He then went out and scored a career-high 57 points in an 89-83 loss, upping his career total to 2,808.

Cugini has said repeatedly in the past that the record hasn’t been on his mind, but with it possibly being broken Tuesday, it’s difficult to not think about it now.

“Yeah, it’s definitely on my mind a little more. A lot of people are talking about it,” Cugini said. “But it’s also a very important game. We’re just going to do whatever we can to get the win. If it happens, that would be great. It would be a big sense of relief.”

Aquinas Academy (14-2, 3-2) and Neighborhood Academy (12-4, 3-3) are both in the thick of the playoff hunt in Class 1A Section 3. When the teams met Jan. 6, Cugini scored 55 points to lead the Crusaders to an 81-77 win.

The man whose record Cugini is shooting for will not be in attendance Tuesday. Pipkins said Aquinas invited him to attend, but he has elected not to.

“Whenever I talked to [Kayda], I told him I just wanted [Cugini] to have his moment,” said Pipkins.

Pipkins, 47, will attend another game that night instead. His son, Tom Pipkins III, plays for Hopewell.

As for his record likely being broken soon, Pipkins said it was going to happen eventually.

“It’s been a long time coming, I guess,” he said. “I guess it’s because of the way the game is played now. There have been a few kids that have gotten close over the last 10 or 15 years.”

If Cugini breaks the record Tuesday, it will come nearly 30 years to the day that Pipkins broke Don Hennon’s long-standing record on Jan. 29, 1993. Hennon, the Wampum High and Pitt great, scored 2,376 points from 1951-55. Pipkins went on to add another 462 points to his record.

Chances are Cugini will break the record Tuesday — he has scored at least 40 points in all but one game this season; he tallied 33 in the other — but what if he doesn’t? Pipkins actually fell short in the game he was first expected to break the record. He needed to score 30 in a game against Penn Hills but was held to 27 before exiting in the fourth quarter due to a leg cramp. Three nights later against South Park, Pipkins became the new record holder after throwing down an alley-oop dunk in the first quarter.

Aquinas Academy is scheduled to host section foe Hillel Academy on Wednesday, but Hillel forfeited a pair of games last week, putting Wednesday’s game in jeopardy. Kayda, who has been on the job for less than a month, said that if Cugini breaks the record Tuesday, a ceremony would be held at Wednesday’s home game. If that game isn’t played, Aquinas’ next game is at home Friday against Imani Christian.

Tuesday’s game may not be a home game for Cugini, but it is being played close to home. Cugini’s family lives in Morningside, and their home is about a mile away from Neighborhood Academy.

“That would be super cool to do it there,” Cugini said. “During the summer I would ride my bike or walk there for some workouts.”

Added Kayda, “That’s both the interesting part and the part that concerns me about this game. You see the cheering section he has for a normal game. And now we have a game like this in his neighborhood. I wouldn’t be surprised if 100 of them are there.”

Despite increased media attention and chatter throughout the school and local basketball community, Cugini’s mom, Brandi, said her son has taken everything in stride and is just enjoying being a teenager.

“It’s funny because Vinnie doesn’t talk too much about it,” she said. “We don’t talk about it at home. We don’t talk about the points. We haven’t even talked about Tuesday’s game. He had his winter formal [Saturday night]. He got ready, he went to the dance, and he slept at a friend’s house. He’s doing the normal high school stuff and hasn’t talked about it much.”

Come Tuesday night, Cugini, a Pitt-Johnstown recruit, might stand on top of the WPIAL’s all-time scoring list. When he gets there, the current record holder has a message for him.

“Just keep plugging away,” Pipkins said. “I can’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Just keep doing your thing for four more years and work on your all-around game. Good luck to him in the future.”