Knoch boys basketball’s Teegan Finucan, Jackson Bauman pulls off rare feat reaching 1,000 points in same week
Within a span of just over two years, Knoch boys basketball has gone from inexperienced talent to a team capable of challenging for a WPIAL Class 4A title.
With the district playoffs beginning Friday, the Knights (16-6) have faced the tournament’s top two seeds — Belle Vernon and North Catholic — a combined three times. They’ve gone 1-2 in those games, with the two losses coming by a total of five points.
Lessons learned on and off the court have spurred the Knights’ surge from an 8-15 record two seasons ago, and two players in particular epitomize Knoch’s rise to prominence.
Junior guards Teegan Finucan and Jackson Bauman both recently reached 1,000 points in their varsity careers, Finucan in a game against North Catholic Feb. 4 and Bauman against South Allegheny on Saturday.
Both players cut their teeth as freshman starters.
“A lot of freshmen don’t get that opportunity to play that much and get that valuable experience so early in their careers,” Finucan said. “We grew together and kept maturing.”
Finucan and Bauman became the seventh and eighth players in program history to earn a spot on the exclusive list.
“I remember coming to Knoch games when I was younger, seeing guys like Ryan Lang (Class of 2022, 1,452 points) play,” Finucan said. “To now be part of that group, it’s a dream come true.
“There’s always a level of stress for a player who is approaching a milestone, and I’m relieved it’s over.”
Finucan said he was not much of a scoring threat in middle school.
“I started to excel my freshman year,” he said of the season he averaged 16 points per game and drained 59 treys. “It was due to relentless hours in the gym. I owe a lot to my dad, Mike, who taught me the game, and I spent a lot of time playing 1-on-1 in the driveway with my older brother, Zarian.”
Currently averaging nearly 14 points per game, Finucan is a steady presence on the court.
“When we need a basket, we look to Teegan,” coach Alan Bauman said. “He’s fearless on offense and is a floor leader for us.”
Finucan and Jackson Bauman, the team’s point guard, are best friends off the court.
“It helps a lot with our chemistry,” said Jackson, whose uncle, Adam Bauman, reached 1,000 points while playing for Freeport in 2002. “It gives us confidence that we both know where the other is going to be.
“I knew I had a chance of getting to a thousand points, but it wasn’t really a goal of mine. I’ve just been focused on winning games. My first two years, we had very strong team captains. Now I’m a captain (along with Finucan and Derek Lang), and I’ve had to be more vocal.”
A point guard can do a good job running a team’s offense without scoring much himself, but with Bauman, the Knights have the best of both worlds. He is putting up 16 points per game.
“His ability to score takes some pressure off the other guys, gets them open for better looks,” Alan Bauman said. “He’s done a good job of letting the rest of the team know what he sees.”
As much as Finucan and Bauman have grown and progressed, their time as teammates is far from over.
“It’s been a pleasure to watch them both mature and work together,” Alan Bauman said. “Very few people have that kind of bond, and we’re excited to have them for another year.“
